Just Go My Way
by sirbartonslady
Summary: [COMPLETE] As the latest round of Chuunin exams draw to a close, eight of the original Rookie Nine, plus their Chuunin exam compatriots, gather and reminisce. UPDATED Spelling and grammar fixed in all chapters
1. Part One: The Blessing Way

**Author's Note**: This story is set ten years after the start of the series. That means all the characters are ten years older than they were when first introduced (well, with exception of the characters introduced after the Time-Skip---but you get the picture). Since the canon story is far from concluded, I'm basing this particular story on canon as it stands right now, which is about Chapter 350. From there, I've made my own conclusions and advanced the story forward. Therefore, there are likely to be some things I will mention here that Kishimoto-sensei's future chapters of the manga will render untrue, so this may turn out to be somewhat AU.

I'm also taking some artistic license and liberty with Sakura's family. Kishimoto-sensei never really went into any detail as to what her parents do for a living, so I made some decisions myself... including names for them that I felt were suitable.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of "Naruto" or its characters. It all belongs to Kishimoto-sensei. I'm just playing in the sandbox of this amazing world. And what a fun sandbox it is! I should thank Kishimoto-sensei for creating it, it's even more fun than Takahashi-sensei's Sengoku Jidai!

* * *

**"Just Go My Way"  
Part One: The Blessing Way**

"Nice weather we're having, eh?" Umino Iruka said congenially as he placed a pair of flowers on the memorial stone.

Hatake Kakashi didn't bother to respond to that. He simply watched as Iruka clapped his hands together and bowed his head in respect to the names engraved on the stone. The jounin throttled down a spiral of rage that Iruka had interrupted his vigil. Occasionally, when his emotions were raw like this, he had to remind himself that he wasn't the only one in the village who mourned names inscribed here.

He didn't have anything personal against Iruka -- truthfully, he rather enjoyed the chuunin's company under most circumstances. Iruka was easy-going and likeable, and he had enough cheek to carry a conversation on his own if necessary. It was quite easy to see why Naruto revered this former sensei of his.

Nevertheless, Kakashi was not in the mood for Iruka's geniality. This memorial stone was his big weakness, the place that brought out his most unstable side and made him weak at heart. When he was here, he relived that horrible day some twenty-five years ago when everything had gone wrong. He felt it was the only way he could atone for the fact that he had lived, when the real hero there had died a horrible death, crushed under countless tons of fallen rock. It had been his first mission as a jounin, and he had ultimately failed, because in the end, he hadn't gone through with his part of the mission. His sensei had had to do it himself.

When he felt this vulnerable, he didn't like to be around anyone. He didn't like feeling vulnerable, and especially not around someone else.

"The exam finals will be starting soon," Iruka said as he turned to leave. "I know you have a tendency to be late, but this one promises to be interesting."

"Just go on," Kakashi growled, his fists clenching. "I'm not finished here."

Iruka gave him an indescribable look and then shrugged as he walked off.

_I shouldn't yell at Iruka. It isn't his fault I'm a mess. Hell, I'd probably even yell at Jiraiya-sama if he was here. I'm really falling apart. _He forced his hands to relax and looked up to the distant mountainside, where five stone faces looked out over Konohagakure. There, second from the right, was the carven countenance of one of the people he'd admired most, all that remained of the Yondaime Hokage. _You'd scold me, wouldn't you, Sensei, for being such an asshole to lower-ranked ninjas. And Obito would lecture me on my ego. And Rin would just smile and sympathize. _His right eye, the eye that still had functioning tear-ducts, burned with tears that threatened to form. _ They've been gone for so long, and I still miss them. You'd think I'd get over them by now._

"What, still here, Kakashi? You're going to be late again, you know."

A spear of annoyance lanced up his spine at that voice. _Oh, dammit, Gai, couldn't this wait ten more minutes?_ This was probably the last person he really wanted to see right now, with his emotions in such disarray. It was embarrassing enough as it was to have these moments when he came completely unhinged, without the one jounin who fancied himself Kakashi's rival butting in and making things worse.

That wasn't to say that he couldn't stand this so-called rival of his. Maito Gai was likeable enough, and arguably the most impressive jounin in all of the five nations, simply because he had made himself into one. His arrogance made him difficult to deal with if you didn't know him very well, but he was a genuine person who rarely ever spoke ill about anyone. He was an inspiration to anyone who aspired to be a shinobi, even if he annoyed those of equal rank. Because of his almost complete lack of innate talent, Gai relied entirely on his own carefully-honed skills, in all three disciplines. No one else in all of the five countries, as far as anyone knew, was as skilled at converting chakra into raw energy for use in taijutsu.

That didn't stop him from being annoying to Kakashi, especially when the stoic jounin's constitution was in dramatic flux. Gai was the polar opposite of Kakashi in nearly every way. Gai was open with emotions, wearing his heart on his sleeve. His mood was easily detected just by looking at him. Kakashi was private about his feelings, utilizing the mask to help hide his expressions and give him the indifferent appearance he preferred. Gai was a workaholic who spent every spare moment toning and conditioning himself, improving his abilities. Kakashi, on the other hand, tended to be lazy about training, relying on his inborn abilities to get him through scrapes. As a teacher, Gai tended to emphasize individual abilities, honing each student's abilities accordingly to best benefit the team, believing that eventually things would fall into place amongst the students. Kakashi, on the other hand, felt that teamwork and camaraderie needed to be constantly reinforced and practiced. To him, individual talents were secondary to teamwork.

"Come on, Kakashi, you have to be done by now," Gai said, clapping him energetically on the shoulders. "Now come along, I'm not letting you weasel out of this."

"Leave me alone, Gai," Kakashi snarled, uncharacteristically hostile. He felt like he'd been caught in Uchiha Itachi's Tsukiyomi genjutsu, having forcibly relived the horrific final moments of his teammate Obito... how Obito had pushed him aside from the falling rocks, and had ended up fatally crushed beneath those same rocks. Only this time, Kakashi had relived it in slow motion, watching as Obito disappeared beneath a cascade of earth and stone... The guilt was like a thousand kunai in his abdomen. If he'd trusted Obito's gut feelings, they would have probably gotten away, all three of them, alive and unharmed. Instead, because of his own ego, he had emerged from the rubble badly beaten up, with a scar across the left side of his face, and an eye in his left eye socket that was all that remained of Obito. He'd had to leave Obito behind in the earthen cave-in.

"Alright, that's enough sulking out of you, Kakashi," Gai said sternly, dropping the happy-go-lucky act. He didn't do it often, but when he had to be, Gai could be frighteningly serious. "You're not acting like yourself at all. Come on, what the hell is wrong with you? You've been surly as hell. You just about took Iruka's head off, for daring to trespass on this ground. If you want to fight someone, don't pick on a chuunin."

"I don't want to fight anyone," Kakashi said wearily as the trance finally let go, enabling him to step back away from the stone. If his left eye had had functioning tear-ducts, he was sure it would have wept. "Least of all you, Gai."

"Then stop being such an ass," Gai snapped. "This isn't like you at all. I know you don't like the summer Chuunin Selection Exams, but this is ridiculous. You've been beyond intolerable since they started. Do I have to knock some sense into you?"

Kakashi chuckled tiredly. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."

Gai froze, his jaw slightly unhinged. "Huh? Wait, are you saying I should beat you up? Because I will, you'd better believe it."

Kakashi felt his chuckle evolve into a full laugh. "Now you're starting to sound like Naruto, Gai. That's rather frightening."

The next thing Kakashi knew, he was on his knees, gasping for air. Gai had delivered a sequence of blows to his abdomen.

"There," Gai said with a definitive nod of his head. "I feel better. How about you?"

"Never better," Kakashi wheezed.

"That's the spirit, Kakashi! Let's go find the other jounin. This exam final promises to be interesting. I hear that puppeteer from Suna has been getting a lot of attention from the other villages' jounin. The last puppeteer we had in one of these turned out to be a genius, so this should be entertaining."

Kakashi protested loudly as Gai hoisted him up, and then slung him over his shoulder. "Oh shut it, Kakashi, I'm going to make sure you're not late this time."

"This is embarrassing," Kakashi complained bitterly. "You're really outrageous, Gai."

"By the way, Kakashi," Gai said, merrily ignoring Kakashi's complaints. "Did you hear the news?"

"What news?"

"Lee proposed to his girlfriend this morning, and she said yes."

"Well good for him. I hope he's happy with her."

Gai deliberately scraped against an awning, garnering a protesting yelp from Kakashi.

"You do know who his girlfriend is, don't you?"

"Yes, yes I do. I just wonder if they realize what they're in for."

"What do you mean?"

"I just hope Sakura isn't settling for something less than what she wants, just because it's been ten years now since Sasuke left. Come _on_, Gai. Put me down!" Kakashi tried to use a move he'd seen Hyuuga Neji use on Gai before in sparring matches, stabbing directly in the center of the small of the back. There was apparently a chakra point there that affected taijutsu, and every time Neji would hit it, Gai would buckle.

Unfortunately for Kakashi, Gai was wise to that point, and Kakashi didn't have the Hyuuga _kekkei genkai_ of the Byakugan to pinpoint the chakra point, nor the other part of that _kekkei genkai_ that allowed for chakra emissions to interrupt the flow of a connecting chakra point. Being that Gai had fallen victim to that move from his former student Neji, he knew about it, and when he felt Kakashi shift his weight, he instinctively swung his arm back to block that point.

"Not bad for my arch-rival. You pay attention, I see. But not good enough! Sorry, but I'm under strict orders to make sure you're not late this time!"

"You're really starting to piss me off," Kakashi snapped, swatting Gai's head of glossy black hair.

"Good, that was one of my goals." Gai crouched down and launched higher on the next leap, taking them higher up and landing on the balcony of the administrative building, where the Hokage's office was. Another leap, and they were on the roof, where several other jounin were gathered.

"Wow, what a sight!" Yuuhi Kurenai chuckled as Gai landed and dumped Kakashi into an undignified and unceremonious heap.

"I'd _pay_ to see that again!" laughed Hyuuga Neji. "I know Lee always goes on about how superior Gai-sensei is, but I finally get to see it for myself!"

"Pitiful, Kakashi," Mitarashi Anko said with a disgusted shake of her head. "I had expected a better showing out of you. You lost me a bet with Shikaku, I'll have you know!"

"Indeed," Nara Shikaku said, scratching his chin idly as he stood up from where he had been sitting, playing an impromptu game of shougi with his son Shikamaru. "Now pay up."

As Kakashi stood up, dusted off and took in his surroundings, he noted three specific people were missing, two of them his former students.

"Right, so, where are Sakura, Naruto and Lee?"

"Naruto went looking for you," Shikamaru said lazily, gathering up the shougi pieces. "Guess he didn't trust Gai to be able to find you. Dunno why, we know how Gai is. Anyway, as for the other two... I imagine they'll be along shortly."

"Oi! Kakashi-sensei! There you are!" The high-energy voice belonged to Kakashi's most accomplished student, Uzumaki Naruto, the hand-chosen successor to the current Hokage and the second most important shinobi in all of Konoha, behind the Hokage herself. The young jounin landed on the edge of the roof with a gusty sigh, his forceful chakra and personality swirling around him like a tiny whirlwind. At 22 years of age, he was a far cry from his clumsy pre-teen self. He had grown tall and limber, moving with the grace of a cat, with broad shoulders and a wild mane of unruly yellow hair. His voice had deepened considerably with puberty, though he still spoke with the same country-bumpkin cadence as always, finishing all his statements with a verbal tic.

"Of course," Kakashi said, rubbing the back of his neck stiffly. "Gai caught me off guard."

"Off guard my ass," Gai said. "You were being a jackass and a wuss. Those traits don't become my archrival, so I'm not going to let you continue with them."

"Eh? Geji-mayu isn't here yet? And neither is Sakura-chan."

"Actually, we are right behind you, Naruto-kun," came the distinctive voice of Rock Lee, Konoha's other taijutsu expert and Gai's personal favorite student. The green-clothed jounin had curiously taken the stairs, unlike most of the other jounin. Right behind Lee was Haruno Sakura, Kakashi's other former student, a disciple of Tsunade-sama and a high-ranking healer-nin. She was still a chuunin because she hadn't gotten around to applying for jounin status, as well as because Tsunade had advised her against it. Jounin were assigned the leaders of A-rank and S-rank missions, which were the missions that usually had fatalities. If Sakura became a jounin, sooner or later she would get assigned to lead one of those dangerous missions, rather than going as support. Medic-nins didn't usually make good leaders on dangerous missions. It was better for them to remain under command of another ranking officer.

Sakura and Lee had both grown and matured considerably in the ten or more years since becoming genin. Sakura was not rail-thin like some kunoichi, but her figure was still toned and lean. She was probably the most athletic kunoichi in the village, her body curving with muscles. She was not busty like Tsunade, but she had all the right curves in the right places, and her self-confidence made her almost irresistible to some men. She had many admirers throughout Konoha. The general consensus was that Rock Lee was indeed One Very Lucky Man (some said One Lucky Bastard, though in an affectionate way, since few people disliked Lee).

For his part, Lee was the spitting image of his sensei, to the point that it was easy to mistake the two as father and son, which was an adequate description of their relationship interactions, even if Gai was too young to be Lee's father in reality. The main difference was height -- Lee's growth was stunted to some degree by the life-threatening injuries he'd received in his first chuunin examination, at the hands of Sabaku no Gaara from Sunagakure. Thus, Lee was shorter than most of the jounin, and definitely shorter than Gai.

The two jounin were startlingly similar in many ways besides appearance, though. Both were open with their emotions and dedicated to working hard to overcome obstacles. Gai had considerably more ingrained self-confidence (most called it arrogance, but Gai called it self-confidence) than Lee, but that also stemmed from the fact that Gai at least could perform basic, fundamental jutsus besides taijutsu. Try as he might, Lee couldn't master genjutsu or ninjutsu at all. Gai preferred taijutsu because it put the least amount of strain on chakra reserves, which for him were slow to replenish. Lee, on the other hand, couldn't use his chakra for anything other than taijutsu.

Despite all of this, Lee was a highly-respected jounin, and a well-liked shinobi over all. He was polite and deferential to people he respected, and his speech patterns reflected his gentle nature. This ability of his made him a particularly useful diplomat. He'd spent a few years as an ambassador in the allied village of Sunagakure, working relatively closely with the Kazekage (and for a while rumors of him having an affair with the Kazekage had circulated, though Lee adamantly denied those rumors, and the Kazekage himself refused to even acknowledge such questions).

"Sakura-chan, long time no see!" Naruto hugged his long-time friend and teammate.

"It's not like you to be late, Lee," Neji teased gently. He and Lee had been teammates for almost twelve years now, engaging in a friendly rivalry for Gai-sensei's attention.

"It is not my fault," Lee said sheepishly.

"Naah," Sakura said, also looking slightly sheepish. "I took too long of a shower."

"And that accounts for Geji-mayu being late... how?" Naruto tilted his head. He was still a very naive, slightly immature kid in some ways, and downright dense in some matters. Anyone with a clear head and any knowledge of human desires could tell that there was something between Sakura and Lee. Most of Konoha knew that the two were essentially living together. Sakura still listed her parents' home as her home address, but she spent far more time in Lee's apartment than she did in her childhood home.

"Um..." Lee blushed. "Because of her, I was late getting my shower. I had to wait for her; it would not have been very nice of me to barge in on her."

"I imagine not," Kakashi said with a chuckle. "She has a pretty lethal right-cross punch. You startle her, and she'll blow you away -- literally."

"Like you would know, Kakashi-sensei!" The kunoichi retorted playfully.

"Lee-kun, allow me to warn you not to make her too angry. It isn't pretty. I think that she forgets that not everyone has Naruto's accelerated healing capacities. You'll live a lot longer if you keep in mind that she's got a temper to rival Hokage-sama." The jounin arched his visible eyebrow. "Speaking of which, I believe congratulations are in order for you both."

Sakura started at that. "Oh, uh, that reminds me. Naruto, can I talk to you in private a moment?"

"Oh sure, Sakura, make everyone wait even longer," said the buxom Hokage, Tsunade, appearing in a puff of smoke in the middle of the roof.

"It won't take long, Tsunade-shishou," Sakura said with a smile to her mentor, "and you all can go on ahead. I just wanted to tell Naruto something important. We'll catch you up at the arena."

"We're not going directly to the arena, baka," Tsunade said with a derisive snort. Despite her harsh words, she smiled at her pupil. Sakura made her proud. It was youngsters like Sakura and Naruto that made her proud to be Hokage. _ Pity_, she thought to herself, _that it never worked out romantically between them. But, at least they're friends. I suppose it's not so unlike Jiraiya and myself, except that I was never romantically inclined towards him, and I don't think he had anything but a passing young-boy's crush on me, if even that much. _ "We'll be meeting up with the contingent from Sunagakure before we go to the arena. They should be here any time, at the front gates."

"This is boring," Anko complained. "Come on, Shibi, isn't there any word yet about Suna? They should be near the gates by now!"

Crouched on a pole, Aburame Shibi, a jounin bug-user from the mysterious Aburame clan, adjusted his dark glasses and looked up toward the sun. "Patience. They are coming from a long distance away."

Anko crossed her arms moodily. "Mou, this sucks. Hokage-sama, can't we go wait by the gates?"

Shibi raised his arm suddenly, and disappeared.

"That must be the signal," Kurenai said. She turned to Neji. "Can you see them?"

The jounin activated his Byakugan and faced the direction of the front gates. After several heartbeats, he spoke. "I can just barely see them, they're right at the boundary of my sight. Which means they're about ten or fifteen minutes, at that pace, from the gates."

"Very well then," Tsunade said. "No point in dawdling now. Sakura, don't take too long, I'm sure Naruto will want to be one of the ones to greet the Kazekage. Everyone else, let's go."

Lee hesitated, looking over at Sakura. "Hokage-sama, if you do not mind, I would like to wait here. I will accompany Sakura and Naruto-kun."

"She did say she wanted to speak with him privately," Tsunade said. "But it's your call."

"If that's the case," Neji said, "I'll stay with you, if you like. I did want to ask you something, after all. That way, too, I can warn you if we run out of time before the visitors show."

* * *

"So, what did you want to talk to me about, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked as the last of the other jounin left the roof of the administrative building. Neji and Lee dropped down to the balcony below, to give them some privacy. 

Sakura chewed her lip in contemplation, unsure how to start. "Naruto, we haven't been keeping in touch as much lately, I don't think. So I'm guessing you aren't aware of how... well... serious... I guess you could say... oh dammit!" She clenched her hands in her hair and stamped her foot in frustration. "I don't know how to tell you this, Naruto!"

Naruto was completely silent, watching her with his intense ultramarine eyes. "Did something happen to you, Sakura-chan? Did something bad happen?"

"No, not at all, or I wouldn't have this much trouble telling you. You see... oh hell." She clenched her eyes shut and plunged in. "Lee and I are engaged, Naruto. He asked me this morning to marry him, and I said yes."

Naruto remained silent, adding to her discomfort. Whether he was stunned, annoyed or confused, she wasn't sure yet.

"Are you angry with me?" She asked finally, opening her eyes and looking at him questioningly. He didn't look angry. In fact, his expression really hadn't changed. "That's why I wanted to tell you myself. Ever since Kakashi-sensei was pulled from active duty, Hokage-sama's had to send you on a lot of the S-rank missions, so I haven't seen much of you, which is why I'm guessing you didn't realize things were this serious between Lee and I."

"I'm not angry, Sakura-chan. I'm just concerned. What about Sasuke?" Naruto said gently. "You've devoted so many years to him; can you so easily abandon him? I promised you I'd bring him back, and I will, I just have to find him. Next time I see him, I will definitely bring him home, if I have to beat him within an inch of his life to do it."

"I've thought this through, Naruto." She heaved a sigh, glad that he wasn't angry with her. She knew that he'd harbored a long-time crush for her; they had briefly dated about six or seven years ago. In the end, she'd come to the conclusion that she could never love Naruto as anything more than a brother and best friend. She just wasn't able to stir any romantic feelings for him.

"Can you please tell me more? I'm afraid I don't understand."

"I've thought about it really hard. I talked with Tsunade-shishou and Shizune-san, and had them cast a few genjutsus on me to help me sort through my feelings, and I came to the conclusion that, where Sasuke is concerned, what I love isn't real. What I say I'm in love with is an ideal. In reality, Sasuke doesn't love me, not the way I say I've loved him. If he did, he'd have come back home long ago. But he doesn't, and he never will. And really, I don't think that I can be okay with that, with loving someone who doesn't love me. I thought I could, but..." She sighed. "You're right, I've devoted so many years in pursuit of Sasuke, and I said to myself it was because I was in love with him, but really, I don't know. I mean, I can't ignore him, he's a Konoha ninja. But... I just don't see him ever feeling the same for me that I've felt for him. And really, I can't keep clinging to the hope that he will."

She paused, looking out over Konoha. "When I realized that, it wasn't as hard on me as I thought it might be to admit that I'd been wrong. In fact, it was kind of a relief. It was like the chains had been taken off. I still love Sasuke, and I always will; nothing will change that. But I'm not going to wait in vain for him anymore. And when I finally realized that, that's when..." tears pooled on her eyelashes, and she stubbornly willed them away, "...that's when I realized who I really do love. Do you remember that one mission, the one to Kirigakure? It started out an A-rank, but became an S-rank very quickly. I remember how Kiba got really badly hurt, and while I was trying to save him, we got ambushed, and Lee just... pulled out all the stops. I don't know how he did what he did, but he protected me long enough that I was able to fix Kiba's injury. But he nearly died right then and there. Gai-sensei said later he thinks Lee managed to force open the Seventh Gate, which would account for how badly he came out of it, since he was just one Gate away from the Gate of Death. It was all I could do to keep his heart beating while we rushed him home so Tsunade-shishou could try and save him. And even she could barely do it. He still hasn't fully recovered from that, and it's been nearly a year since that happened." Sakura brushed her fingers through her hair. "I guess that's when I realized that I'd fallen in love with him. You know that Lee and I dated off and on these past several years, but... when he nearly died beneath my hands, that's when I realized how dear to me he really is, how much I really do love him. He's been so good to me all these years, I really don't deserve him... but..."

She shrugged, suddenly at a loss for words and embarrassed at how much she'd blurted out. "I guess to make a short story long, I do love him."

Naruto nodded in acceptance of this. "So, you won't regret giving up on Sasuke?" _Interesting. I wonder how long ago she stopped using the honorifics with Geji-mayu and Sasuke? She always called Geji-mayu "Lee-san" and Sasuke "Sasuke-kun" -- I wonder if she stopped a long time ago and I just never noticed before now._

"No. I think I would regret it if I were to cling to the hope of Sasuke and shun what's right in front of me now. Lee and I have practically been living together for the past six months, after all. He has a really nice apartment now, and my parents have been trying to encourage me to move out on my own. I pretty much just stay with my parents when Lee's out on a mission, but when he's home, I live with him." She blushed when she saw him raise a questioning eyebrow at her. "Yes, I can see the question in your eyes, and the answer is indeed yes. Please don't think badly of me for it. You know it's common."

"I don't think any less of you, Sakura-chan, I'm just surprised. I had no idea you were that intimate with him. I thought you two were just good friends. I guess I should have figured it out myself, but you know how dense I am. You must have put a lot of thought into this decision."

"I have. Lee and I talk about the future a lot in the evenings." She blushed a bit. "We've even talked about having children; he wants them, you know. And I kind of do too. I never thought about the future with Sasuke. The thought of having children with him never crossed my mind. But with Lee, it's different. I can't help but start looking toward the future. I'm just so comfortable with him, Naruto. I can't really explain it. When I'm with him now, I feel at peace, like I don't have to keep proving myself. He loves me for who I am. That's something I can't say about Sasuke."

"So, you can be happy with him? Even if I do manage to bring Sasuke home soon?"

"Lee told me that he'd do anything to make me happy, and I know he means it. In fact, he said the same basic thing I said when Sasuke left: 'I'll do everything in my power to make sure that you're happy, every single day.' Except, I know that Lee means it, whereas I guess I didn't really mean it, because I didn't understand what I was saying then. He's been through so much for my sake. When he asked me to become his wife, I answered from my heart. So, yes, I can be happy with him, Naruto, because I _am_ happy with him. I love him so much."

Naruto grinned. "Then that's all that matters! Congratulations, Sakura-chan!" He threw his arms around her and hugged her fiercely. Relieved beyond words, Sakura spontaneously burst into tears. "There's no need to cry, you know! Geez, you women and the water-works!" His tone of voice was tender and affectionate, taking the sting out of his words.

"Thank you so much, Naruto," she sobbed. "I was so afraid you wouldn't approve, that you'd be either jealous or skeptical, or just upset. You're my best friend, and I want you to be happy for me. I don't know what I'd do if you were unhappy with this."

"I couldn't be happier for you, Sakura-chan. I was afraid you were trying to replace Sasuke, or doing this out of fear of being alone, and Geji-mayu deserves better than that. He deserves for you to love him for who he is, with your whole heart. That doesn't mean you can't also love Sasuke, like you said, but as long as you aren't trying to substitute for him, then I think you're making the best decision. You couldn't have picked a better guy, either. Geji-mayu won't ever, ever hurt you. So, can I call first dibs on training your first kid?"

Sakura laughed weakly at the sudden change in subject; "You might have to fight with Gai-sensei over that honor."

"Bah! I'd never lose to the likes of him!"

"Besides, you'll probably be Hokage by that time."

"So what? Tsunade-obaachan trained you after she'd become Hokage."

"Are you two done yet?" Neji called from below. "They're almost to the gate. We need to leave now if we're going to make it there in time to greet the escort!"

* * *

Sprinting as they were, they still only just barely got there in time to fall into formation as the escort of the Kazekage reached the gates. Sakura noticed that Naruto was trembling with excitement. He hadn't seen Gaara in several years, and he was looking forward to seeing with his own eyes how this unlikely friend of theirs was doing. 

One of the first people through the gates was the Konoha escort, who had met up with the Suna procession at the edge of the Fire Country's borders. This was Aburame Shino, a recently-promoted jounin hailing from the Aburame clan, and the son of Shibi. He was the same age as Sakura and Naruto and had been in their Academy classes with them. Shino had been using his bugs to keep in contact with his father to allow the Leaf village enough time to prepare for the Sand's arrival.

Close on Shino's heels followed the Kazekage himself, surrounded by a half-dozen of his highest ranking jounin, including his two siblings.

"Oi, Gaara!" Naruto bellowed excitedly. "Long time no see!"

"Mou," grumbled the black-hooded jounin puppetmaster immediately to the Kazekage's left. "Uzumaki Naruto, you're as noisy as ever!"

"Ah, shut up, no one asked your opinion, Kankurou!" Naruto retorted with a grin. While the Kazekage's older brother was somewhat annoying, Naruto had learned that Kankurou was a very admirable person, completely devoted to his brother's cause and life.

On the other side of the Kazekage was a blonde woman with her hair tied up in four small ponytails. This was Temari, the eldest of the three siblings. Naruto was used to seeing her carrying her giant fan folded up on her back, but she didn't have it this time. Instead, she wore across her torso a sash that some jounin used to hold summoning scrolls. Likewise, Kankurou no longer had the puppets strapped to his back that he used to. Nor did Gaara have the large sand-gourd he used to always carry.

Gaara shrugged off the formal outer traveling robe as his escort gathered around him. Sakura took a moment to appreciate what the Sand village's kage had become. She could still remember the strange, freaky 12-year-old war machine that he had been when they first met him. She involuntarily shuddered at the memory of what Gaara had done to Lee in a fit of rage after being nearly defeated. He had later gone temporarily insane when Uchiha Sasuke had wounded him in battle, and had transformed into a horrific sand-demon.

But now? Ten years removed from that unstable, walking-time-bomb persona, Gaara had become something else entirely. He had once been a self-contained misanthrope, convinced that the only way to affirm his existence was to kill any who opposed him. However, for the past eight years he had served his village proudly and selflessly as Kazekage. He no longer saw people as potential assassins that needed to be killed to preserve his own existence. He guarded his village with all his extraordinary powers -- which was good, since Sunagakure was at present on the verge of all-out war with Kirigakure -- and did so without hesitation. Furthermore, as the Kazekage he was also the head of the village, and by all accounts he was an exceptional one. He had single-handedly pulled Sunagakure back from the brink of financial ruin, reestablishing it as a powerful shinobi nation. Perhaps it had been this rebirth of Suna that had caused Kirigakure to renege on its treaties and begin harassing the Wind Country's primary hidden village. Things had escalated in the past year and a half, with Suna and Kiri both on the verge of declaring war on each other, putting strains on diplomatic relations with Konoha.

Surprisingly, Gaara was a good diplomat, though the Mizukage of Kirigakure was certainly trying his patience, or so Lee had told Sakura. And Sakura could definitely believe it. She remembered how Tsunade hated dealing with the Mizukage, and even Naruto had half-joked about making up an S-rank mission with some ANBU members and going in to assassinate the Mizukage. Even Jiraiya refused to deal much with the Mizukage unless ordered to by the Hokage (which had only happened once, and had devolved into a near-catastrophe, thanks to the paranoid Mizukage assuming that one of Konoha's sannin coming meant that Konoha was going to invade, that had ultimately resulted in Lee and Kiba incurring life-threatening injuries, Sakura exhausting her medical skills and Naruto unleashing his dangerous Four-Tailed form). So, really, it was no surprise that diplomatic relations between Kirigakure and the two allied villages were very strained.

"I trust your journey was a safe and uneventful one, Kazekage-dono?" Tsunade said in greeting to the Kazekage.

"Indeed. The Water Country has been quiet lately, so with any hope nothing will happen while we are here."

Fundamentally, Gaara looked much the same as he always had. He had the same unruly dark red hair clipped short out of expedience, same jade-green eyes that seemed to unnerve even the most fearsome opponent, same blood-red "ai" kanji brand just over where his left eyebrow would be (if he had eyebrows), and the same black rings around his eyes, marking him as the host -- or in his case, former host -- of the tanuki tailed beast, Shukaku. He hadn't grown in height much over the past ten years, and was now rather dwarfed by his brother Kankurou and by Naruto.

His physique hadn't changed much; he'd always had a balanced, standard build. He was primarily a ninjutsu shinobi, though from what Lee had told Sakura, the kage of Sunagakure was highly skilled in taijutsu as well. As the ambassador in Suna, Lee had worked very closely with Gaara, and had sparred numerous times with the Kazekage to keep in form. He had seen for himself that Gaara was every bit as skilled in the various disciplines as one would expect a village's kage to be. Lee had never seen Gaara perform a genuine genjutsu, and was of the belief that he likely wasn't very good at casting them, though he was most likely skilled enough at recognizing and dispelling them. Lee had experienced firsthand that Gaara was no pushover even without his gourd of chakra-infused sand. The former Jinchuuriki knew how to defend himself with taijutsu, and he was remarkably good with shuriken and kunai. He was also good with evasive ninjutsu, and transformation and replacement techniques as well.

After greeting Tsunade formally, Gaara turned to Naruto. "Good to see you again, Uzumaki Naruto. I hope you have been well?"

"I've been just fine, and it looks to me like you're doing well yourself."

"Well enough," Gaara tipped his head slightly. "Have you had any luck in locating your comrade Uchiha?"

"Not lately. Haven't had time to search for him. S-rank missions left and right."

"You've been well then, Gaara-sama?" Lee asked. "I know you were having some climate problems when I was transferred back to Konoha."

"Sunagakure is in a desert," Gaara replied. "Deserts are hard on villages, but we are able to weather the sandstorm. Our village is old, after all." The kage turned his unnerving gaze to Lee, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly in a smile, such as Gaara ever did smile. "You appear to be well, Lee-san."

"Oh look who's here!" Temari said pompously, grinning and elbowing Shikamaru good-naturedly. "Good morning, Nakimushi-kun!"

"Eh?" Shikamaru tilted his head. "Aren't you over that yet?"

"As you can tell," another Suna jounin kunoichi said saucily, leaning against Kankurou like he was a tree, "Temari-oneesan has been working on her insults. With predictable results."

Gaara eyed the kunoichi blandly. "Kankurou," he said mildly, but with a pointed glint in his eye.

The puppetmaster dutifully clapped his hands over the kunoichi's mouth. "Quiet, Sanami. We're on official diplomatic business, you idiot. Talking like that makes us all look bad."

Gaara smirked. "Actually, that wasn't what I had in mind, Kankurou. I was rather thinking perhaps you should introduce her."

"Oh!" Kankurou looked abashed as he let go of the kunoichi, who promptly stomped on his foot and kicked him in the shins.

"You big stupid beast, how dare you!" she raged. "In front of Konoha's Hokage-sama, too!"

"Gah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I misunderstood Gaara, alright? Geez, woman!"

"Right," Shikamaru said slowly to Temari. "So, who is she?"

Temari grinned. "Believe it or not, that's Kankurou's new wife, Sanami. She's an expert scroll-sealer. She's developed scrolls that are easily carried almost anywhere that can teleport large objects, like Kankurou's puppets, or my fan." She reached into her sash and pulled out a small scroll. "See? Like this. With this scroll and just a few hand-seals, I can summon my fan anywhere. Handy for when you're on a diplomatic mission where having visible weapons is a disadvantage."

"Now that we're all gathered, let us head to the arena," Tsunade said imperiously. "We have an hour until the finals are to begin, so let's get ourselves there and settled before the opening ceremonies."

Abruptly, Gaara's eyes grew wide and he flailed his arms, as though he'd been tripped. Kankurou swore and tried to catch the Kazekage with his chakra strings that he used to control his puppets, but due to the distance between them and the proximity of other people, he wasn't able to latch them on in time. However, Lee reacted instantly and darted forward, catching Gaara in his arms before the kage could fall to the ground.

"Tch! Suna!" Gaara snapped peevishly, hiking his robes up and revealing a small ring-tailed creature scurrying around his feet.

"Are you alright, Gaara-sama?" Sanami said urgently as Kankurou used his chakra strings to pin the animal to the ground.

"He's fine, Sanami," Temari said. "Though that was rather silly of Suna-chan." She picked up the creature and held it like a cat. "Right, Gaara?"

"My thanks, Lee-san," Gaara said stiffly, pulling away from Lee and dusting off as he rearranged his robes. "That was rather unexpected. I apologize for it."

"There is nothing to apologize for, Gaara-sama," Lee said hastily, trying to quell a fierce blush that crept up his cheeks. He and Gaara were both fully aware of the rumors about them, and it bothered him immensely, simply because he wasn't that frivolous. His heart had belonged to Sakura long before he'd ever met Gaara. "These things happen."

"Is that a tanuki?" Naruto asked incredulously. The creature had a ringed tail and black markings around its eyes, making it look like it had a strange mask on.

"No," Temari said, petting the animal. "It's a distant relative of the tanuki, called a raccoon. This is Gaara's familiar, Suna-chan. She doesn't like being separated from him for any length of time, so she travels with us when we leave the village."

As if to punctuate that point, Suna leaped out of her arms and landed on Gaara's shoulder, chittering rapidly and scolding the Kazekage.

"Why are you yelling at me, Suna?" Gaara said to the creature as he reached up to smooth down its ruffled fur. "I didn't step on you; you tripped me."

"Tch," Kankurou hissed. "That little pest! If she weren't so useful for you, Gaara, I'd say you should just seal her in a scroll and be done with it. Make her a summon."

Gaara looked over at his brother expressionlessly. Kankurou's eyes widened slightly and he hastily looked away, like a dog submitting to its alpha.

As the group began to walk toward the arena, Lee and Sakura fell in with Naruto, Tsunade and Gaara. Shikamaru paced alongside Temari, who was looking around with great interest.

"This place is livelier than I remember!" she said with a big smile. She elbowed Shikamaru energetically. "So, how have you been, Nakimushi-kun?"

"I wish you wouldn't call me that," Shikamaru complained. "Talk about a pain in the ass -- that was a long time ago!"

Temari laughed merrily. "Still as whiny as ever!"

"I wonder," Nara Shikaku said under his breath as he walked beside his long-time friends and teammates Akimichi Chouza and Yamanaka Inoichi. "Does he realize he's exactly the same with her as I was with his mother when I was that age?"

"Probably not!" laughed Inoichi, his long blond ponytail swinging in the breeze. "And he wouldn't believe it, even if you told him as much! He's really exactly like you, Shikaku, so much so that it's scary!"

"That's what I was afraid of," Shikaku grumbled, rubbing his hand idly across the scar on his jaw. "Troublesome brat, he'll show me up, won't he?"

"I'm guessing so," Chouza said genially. "But that's what children are supposed to do -- outdo their parents."

"Mou, mendokuse," Shikaku sighed, garnering hearty laughs from his friends. "What a pain in the ass."

As they walked, Tsunade looked over at Gaara. "So, Kazekage-dono..." she started to say, but Gaara held up a hand to forestall her.

"Please, Hokage-sama. Call me Gaara. I am too young to be considered your equal."

Tsunade smiled at him. "Nevertheless, you are my equal, in title at least. But if you are more comfortable this way, then I will abide by your wishes." She looked over at where the arena rose out of the ground like a giant stone bubble. "Word has reached me that you have been studying a form of medical genjutsu."

"I have, yes. Mind-soothing, some call it," the Kazekage looked straight ahead as he walked and spoke. "In a way, it's a form of doujutsu. It involves hypnotism and the use of chakra to calm a distraught mind. Temari was the one who suggested I look into studying it, because of my eyes, and my experience with mental instability, such as it is." He scratched the baby raccoon's chin idly. "Why do you ask, Hokage-sama? Surely you have some skill in this practice."

Tsunade sighed. "I do not. I am primarily a medical healer. I can heal wounds and counter poisons, but when it comes to damage to the spirit, I am as powerless as anyone. And the reason that I ask is this: We have a jounin here, a very useful and skilled one, who has been suffering from some mysterious mental instabilities these past couple of years. It's gotten so bad that I've had to stop sending him on S-rank missions, and I'm hesitant to send him on A-rank. He's normally a very easy-going person to work with, and a very capable shinobi, but lately he's had random fugues of incapacitating depression or rage. We can only begin to speculate what has caused this, given his long history as a jounin. I have reason to believe that there is significant damage in his mind from run-ins several years ago with one of the Akatsuki."

Gaara visibly bristled at the mention of the organization that had caused him so much anguish, even if in the end they'd done him a favor. Naruto sympathized; he could only imagine the pain Gaara had been put through having Shukaku forcibly extracted from every fiber of his being. Having grown up with Kyuubi inside him, and knowing how far the nine-tailed fox's essence was enmeshed within every muscle, every bone, every drop of blood and every tissue, lending its enormous reserve of chakra when needed, and healing wounds in effort to keep its prison from dying, Naruto couldn't even begin to fathom what kind of pain it must have been to Gaara to have Shukaku forcibly drawn out of him.

Just thinking about it, even though everything had turned out fine in the end, made his stomach feel sick and his blood run hot with anger.

"I see," Gaara said finally. "I can only recall the one member that I dealt with, the one who made exploding clay. But there were more, I do recall hearing that."

"Indeed. The one I speak of was capable of casting extremely powerful genjutsu, the kind that are almost impossible to pull yourself out of alone, with his eyes alone. This jounin of ours has tangled with Itachi several times, and I fear that that genjutsu has had a long-term effect on him."

Sakura and Lee walked silently beside Naruto, lending their friend wordless moral support. It was hard on Naruto to see Kakashi slowly unraveling at the seams, but the hardest of all was being unable to help. The last time he'd tried to confront Kakashi over these strange occurrences, trying to break the trance, Kakashi's Sharingan had triggered the searing rage of the Kyuubi within Naruto, to an uncontrollable degree . Had not former ANBU-captain Yamato been nearby to put a seal on the leaking chakra and control the raging kitsune's spirit, there's no telling what might have happened. Whatever it was that happened to Kakashi, it affected the Sharingan, and that change infuriated the Kyuubi.

Gaara looked over at the three of them, silently watching their reactions.

"You can hardly expect me to make a diagnosis based on this information," the Kazekage said finally.

"Most of the shinobi are too afraid to be around him when he shows signs of whatever this ailment is," Lee said. "Gai-sensei is one of the few who is not intimidated by him. He has said that Kakashi is like a man possessed when in the throes of those violent trances. Like he has been infested by a demon. Other times, he says, Kakashi is almost catatonic."

"Kakashi?" Gaara faltered a step. "Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-nin?"

"Yes."

"That is... unexpected." He looked over at Naruto pointedly. "He was your sensei, was he not?"

"Yes," Naruto answered. "It's hard to believe this is the same Kakashi-sensei... No matter what the situation, Kakashi-sensei was always logical and straight-forward about it. He never showed any kind of vulnerable emotion, especially not anger."

"Does he intimidate you?" Gaara asked, almost glossing over what Naruto had just said.

"No, not at all!" Naruto retorted. "The only shinobi in this village stronger than me are the Ero-sennin and Tsunade-obaachan."

"However," Sakura interjected, "somehow the Kyuubi within Naruto gets riled up when Kakashi-sensei goes into one of those trances. I think that's why people are saying that he's got a demon in him -- because the demon in Naruto reacts to it."

Gaara was silent for several paces. "It's not a demon. Whatever it is, it is not a demon. The only way to seal a demon into a human is to seal it into a newborn baby, one that has only just taken its first breath. It has to do with the severing of the umbilical cord. A demon cannot be sealed into the body of an adult human, not without dire consequences and significant physical changes. Thus, I can tell you now that it is not a demon that plagues your sensei. There is no way it could be fully sealed within him." There was a long, heavy pause as the kage of Sunagakure pondered. "However, a malicious doujutsu or genjutsu could have a very similar effect to that of a demonic possession. If it is a doujutsu or genjutsu, then mind-soothing could probably work, for a time anyway. It is a temporary measure, however, not a cure-all. It suppresses symptoms and reactions, but it does not heal the mental damage. The only thing that can heal that sort of thing is time and personal dedication to healing such an injury."

Tsunade's brows knitted contemplatively. "So, this doujutsu of yours is more like bandaging a wound, rather than healing it?"

Gaara gave a small, wan smile. "There are wounds that cannot be healed by traditional means. Wounds to the heart, and to the mind, cannot be healed with medicine or medical ninjutsu. My caretaker when I was young taught me that." He tilted his head slightly, as if rubbing his temple against the fur of the creature that clung to his shoulder. "Believing medicine is the cure to everything is naive. Medicine is a tool, just as a kunai is a tool. The true healing occurs within the individual. Just as there are some things a kunai cannot cut, so are there things that medicine cannot cure."

They turned a corner, turning onto a main street, which was lined with people, particularly children, who cheered the two kages. Tsunade smiled at the people of her village and waved to some of them, though Gaara stiffly ignored the whole ordeal, clearly uncomfortable.

"Loosen up, Gaara," Temari said to her brother. "You look arrogant like that."

"Shove off," the Kazekage hissed between clenched jaws. "You know I don't like to be made into a spectacle."

"Just relax your shoulders," Tsunade advised. "And don't look so stiff. If you're not comfortable interacting with them, at least don't look so intimidated by them. Most of the children are looking at your pet anyway."

Sakura could sort of sympathize with Gaara, though. She felt like all the eyes were on her, boring into her, as if a million thoughts were saying "Who does she think she is, walking with the kages like that in procession? She's just a lowly chuunin. She hasn't earned the right to walk with them." She wanted to back away from the group, or hide between Naruto and Lee, or something. Anything to get those eyes off her.

Surreptitiously, Lee reached over and clasped her left hand with his right, lacing his fingers with hers. He then gave her hand a gentle, tender squeeze of support. Though he didn't even look at her as he did this, keeping his gaze firmly focused ahead and his head held high, she could see a faint blush accumulating on his sinuses.

_Bless him, _she thought, fighting down a blush. _He's always thinking of me. I really don't know what I did to deserve him -- or that I even deserve him at all._

Naruto altered his course, bringing himself alongside her on the right. Subtly, he reached down and gripped her right hand in a less intimate gesture. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze and darted her an encouraging smile.

"It's alright, Sakura-chan. No one's judging you. I don't think anyone is even looking at you. They're more interested in Gaara."

_I don't deserve him either,_ Sakura thought. _He's always thinking of me too. How on earth did I ever get to be so lucky, to have two such wonderful guys care so much for me?_

Tsunade glanced back over her shoulder at her pupil, and smiled. "By the way, Sakura, I am of the understanding that congratulations are in order for you. Are you planning to change your name?"

Sakura blinked in astonishment. "What? You heard too, shishou?"

"The village has ears," Tsunade said with a conspiratorial smirk.

"No," Lee said. "I think it is easier explained by saying that Gai-sensei has a big mouth."

Sakura heaved a sigh; "I knew it. He can't keep something like that to himself. I swear, Lee, if I didn't know better, I'd think he really was your father, the way he struts over any accomplishment of yours. It goes beyond a sensei's pride!"

"Well, his totem animal _is_ the peacock," Lee chuckled at that, a bit nervously. "You can't blame him, can you?"

"I was hoping to be a little more discreet," Sakura complained. "I bet half of Konoha knows by now!"

"Knows what?" Gaara inquired, his attention seized by the conversation. He shortened his strides until he was walking beside Lee, almost stride for stride. His intense jade-green eyes unnerved Sakura to the point where she couldn't get words past her throat.

"Sakura has agreed to become my wife," Lee said finally, ducking his head as if embarrassed.

"Is that so?" Gaara's face was expressionless as always, but his tone was particularly flat, and for a moment Sakura wondered if there was some truth to those old rumors after all. Perhaps Lee hadn't felt anything for Gaara, but there was no guarantee that the Kazekage hadn't harbored some affections, or jealousy, for him.

"Is that right?" Kankurou said with a laugh from behind. "Well then, Lee-san, congratulations! I can say from personal experience that it is quite an event, getting married."

Temari also laughed; "I'd say Kankurou is quite pleased with his choice, though I do wonder if that particular choice is so pleased with _him_."

"Bah," Sanami said peevishly, "needling me again, Temari-oneesan? I'm perfectly content and you know it."

"Well," Shikamaru said, "it looks to me like he's whipped, so of course she's perfectly content. What a pain in the ass."

"Whipped?" Kankurou's jaw dropped. "Oi, you little whelp!"

Sanami smacked her husband upside the head. "Let it go, Kankurou."

Sakura kept watch on Gaara out of the corner of her eye, feeling more and more nonplussed the longer the Kazekage remained silent. Naruto and Lee also watched the redhead with growing consternation.

"Oi! Gaara!" Naruto said finally. "You're supposed to say something like 'Congratulations' to them. It's a good thing, this getting engaged thing. Whether you approve or not!"

Gaara's mouth quirked; "I apologize. I did not mean to offend. Relationships still bewilder me." He resumed petting his raccoon. "Congratulations, Lee-san and Sakura-san."

Mercifully, they had reached the arena by this point. Sakura silently thanked whatever fates or lucks had brought this about, since Gaara was starting to really unnerve her. She stuck close to her fiancé while Tsunade started giving directions to the surrounding jounin. Lee put an arm around her shoulders, offering silent comfort to her. In a moment of emotional uncertainty, she wrapped her arms around his waist and clung to him.

_What is wrong with me? Gaara shouldn't scare me like that, it's not like he's that dangerous to me. Even if Gaara doesn't like me, he holds Naruto in far too high esteem to ever hurt me._ She shivered slightly. _All the same, those eyes are just so... empty... sometimes._

Lee didn't say anything -- he didn't have to -- as he dropped a kiss onto her forehead and gently massaged her shoulders. She gratefully leaned into his embrace, taking comfort in his immutable strength. Nothing ever phased him. Of course, she considered, that could change once they had children. She almost chuckled as she remembered her father telling her how no amount of ninja training had prepared him for diapers and midnight feedings and teething and colic and all the not-so-joyous joys of parenting. She amused herself with visions of Lee freaking out over something mundane with a baby in hand... The thoughts helped drive the fear, discomfort and trepidation from the forefront of her thoughts.

"Sakura!" a familiar voice called. Sakura perked up instantly. "There you are!"

"Mom! Dad!" Sakura called back. She disentangled herself from Lee, who chuckled as he released her. "I'll be right back, Lee."

"Take your time," he said easily. "I am going to go find Neji and his family."

"Alright. I know where the Hyuugas usually sit, so I'll look for you there then." Sakura pecked a kiss on his cheek as she turned toward her parents, who were approaching. She felt rather than saw or heard as Lee launched himself into motion using a taijutsu equivalent of the body-flicker technique.

"There you are, honey!" Her mother opened her arms to hug her daughter, and Sakura flung herself excitedly into her mother's embrace. "Whoa! You're in good spirits today!"

Sakura's father was a retired genin, who had suffered career-ending and life-threatening injuries during his attempt at the Chuunin Selection Exams. Her mother had never managed to pass the final exams to even become a genin before tragedy had struck her family and forced her to quit as a shinobi. Sakura was their only child and was certainly their pride and joy. Mrs. Haruno ran a small bakery while her husband worked as a merchant.

Sakura hugged her mother joyously. "Dad, Mom, I have the best news in the world to share with you!"

"Did you get promoted?" Her father asked.

"No," Sakura shook her head, laughing. That was her father's response to anyone who expressed having great news to share; he already knew she hadn't applied for a jounin promotion and had no intentions of doing so any time soon. "You know that's not what it is, Dad!"

"Then what is it?"

"Lee proposed to me this morni--" she didn't even get a chance to finish the word before she was virtually crushed by her father's ferocious bear hug, effectively squeezing the breath out of her. Although he hadn't been a ninja for thirty years now, Haruno Noboru could still surprise his daughter with how fast he could move when he wanted to. It was also a measure of how well her parents knew her that she didn't even have to tell them her answer to Lee; they already knew.

Haruno Tsubaki likewise hugged her daughter enthusiastically. "I'm so happy for you, Sakura! Oh, congratulations, my dear!"

"This is wonderful, wonderful news, sweetheart!" Noboru swung his daughter around in his eagerness. "We should celebrate!"

"Dad, come on, you're going to crush my ribs!" Sakura gasped. Her father put her down with a sheepish apology and she grinned. She'd known her parents would react this way, because she knew that they really, really liked Lee. Her father saw Lee as the success story he himself had not been, because Lee had likewise incurred grave injuries in his first Chuunin Selection Exam, and had managed to overcome his injuries and return to being a shinobi, and had ascended up the ranks through sheer willpower alone to stake his claim as a jounin. Tsubaki thought the world of the young jounin because he was polite, well-mannered (if a bit eccentric) and openhearted, and his continued, unwavering devotion to Sakura had really touched her. She wanted her daughter to be as cherished by her life mate as she had been by her family, which was something Sasuke likely could never have done for her.

Sakura also knew that neither of her parents had liked Sasuke very well. However, they hadn't really told her why until about a month or so after she'd begun living together with Lee. It turned out that the Uchiha clan had long been respected and admired, but not particularly liked. Much like the Hyuuga clan, the Uchihas were arrogant and elitist, and most people in Konoha didn't like to deal with them extensively. Combined with the tragedy of the clan and Sasuke's dark, foreboding views and vows, his kamikaze behavior of forsaking his own village for the sake of gaining power, and it was easy to see now, in retrospect, why Sakura's parents had hoped and prayed desperately that their daughter would outgrow her childhood crush on the calamitous young scion of the star-crossed Uchiha clan.

"So, why don't the two of you come over tonight for dinner?" Mrs. Haruno said brightly. "I'll fix something extra special. You don't have any plans, right?"

"Not to my knowledge, but I'll have to ask Lee. He usually tells me about any plans well in advance, so I'm assuming not, but I'll let you know if he does. What time?"

"How about between five and six?"

"Okay, great -- I need to go, I'm sure they're all waiting for me now. We'll stop by tonight, whatever his plans might be. I'll be in touch!" In her excitement, she decided haphazardly to use the body flicker technique, but forgot to scout the area before transferring. She realized her error a few heartbeats too late when she opened her eyes to find herself staring at someone's jounin vest, her nose literally less than a centimeter from the green material. A pair of pale gloved hands came to rest on her shoulders.

"You lucky girl," a wry, familiar voice quipped evenly. "Good thing you chose the Hyuuga box to carelessly teleport into, since the Hyuugas are used to seeing and reacting to strange things like this. Otherwise, you could have been in a world of pain."

"K-Kakashi-sensei--I'm sorry--"

"Ow, dammit, Neji, what the hell was that for?" She heard Lee's voice, thick with annoyance, behind her, and she turned to see him prone on the ground, rubbing his shoulder gingerly.

"Oh, put a cork in it," Neji said peevishly, straightening his tunic. "I just saved your dumb ass, Lee."

"From what?"

"From your careless fiancée, is what! Two solid objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time; that's one of the first laws of physics. In case you didn't notice, she flickered in right where you were just standing, and you wouldn't move when I told you to! Your lack of ninjutsu means you don't sense when a body-flicker is coming in, so you would never have gotten out of the way. If you had stayed there, one of you would've gotten pretty badly hurt, and I'm guessing it wouldn't be her."

Lee blinked slowly and his eyes shifted over to Sakura, who was blushing by now with embarrassment.

"Sorry, Lee," she said with a sheepish grin. "I kinda lost my head." She illustrated the point with a gesture by knocking herself lightly in the temple.

"Almost literally," Kakashi added dryly. "I hope that this was a solitary incident, Sakura. You're not usually this careless."

Lee silently gathered himself up, dusted off, and came to Sakura's side without a word. At first Sakura thought he was mad at her, but the way he was looking at Neji out of the corner of his eye betrayed who he was actually angry with.

"In the future, Neji," he said evenly, with only a hint of anger, "if you must shove me aside, please take care that you do not hit one of my Gates with your jyuuken."

"I didn't," Neji retorted. "I was close, but I didn't hit any of them. I know where they are better than you do."

Sakura put an arm around Lee's waist, privately enjoying (somewhat guiltily) this reversion on both jounin's part. Neji and Lee had been teammates for well over a decade, but they were still in some ways rivals deep down inside, and whenever Lee felt like Neji was patronizing him or belittling him, he tended to snap and say something. With most other people, Lee was capable of pausing and considering consequences; Neji brought out the slightly-bratty child in him.

As she leaned against him, Sakura felt him shift a bit and relax, almost like a horse being reassured. The mental image of Lee as a horse made her giggle, considering one of the things he'd told her a while ago in confidence.

"What's so funny?" Neji raised an eyebrow at her.

"None of your business, Neji-kun," she retorted happily. "Private joke between Lee and myself."

"Which means," another voice sang merrily as an ANBU member dropped onto the railing, "that you shouldn't inquire too much, if you don't want to learn Too Much Information."

Lee outright laughed at that. "Tenten! I have not seen you in months, and this is how you greet me?"

The ANBU member removed her distinctive mask and hood, revealing herself to be Neji and Lee's long-time teammate Tenten.

"Well, I've been busy, you know! These Chuunin Selection Exams are huge security risks, after all." the kunoichi retorted. "And since when have I ever stood on small talk?"

"Good point."

There was a puff of smoke and the distinctive sound of a body-flicker -- or a clone-release -- from nearby as Kakashi quietly removed himself from the box. Three heartbeats later, in his place puffed another cloud of smoke as a red tortoise appeared. It seemed almost orchestrated.

"Ah!" was all Lee was able to get out as the smoke cleared to reveal someone that he and his teammates knew very well: the ninkame of their sensei, Gai.

The lazy eyes of the tortoise closed dreamily as it settled itself down on the ground, as if to take a nap.

"Oh...kay," Hyuuga Hinata, Neji's younger cousin, said softly. "Why is there a turtle here, Neji-oniisan?"

"It means Gai-sensei is coming," Tenten said with a grin. "He's smart enough to use Ninkame-san to clear the space where he intends to teleport in, so that he doesn't risk colliding with anyone."

"Unlike a certain kunoichi," Neji added with an unreadable look as he glanced at Sakura.

"Let it go, Neji," Lee said flatly.

Gai-sensei's impeccable timing prevented further argument as he appeared on top of the ninkame's shell in a puff of smoke.

"Good morning everyone!" the jounin said brightly, raising his hand in greeting. "Lovely day for a Chuunin Selection Exam finale, eh?"

The response Gai got wasn't exactly what he'd expected, apparently, though he was experienced enough as a ninja that he wasn't caught completely off guard. He snatched the thrown kunai out of the air before it could sheer off his left ear, and gave Sakura a bewildered look. "What was that for?"

"For having a big mouth!" Sakura snapped peevishly. "Geez! Do I really need to spell it out for you?"

"What are you talking about?"

While Sakura glared at the older jounin, Ninkame yawned hugely and noisily. "She's right though, Gai-sensei," it said. "You _do_ have a big mouth."

Gai punched the turtle's shell. "Quiet, you." He looked up at Sakura. "Look, if this is about your news, I only told two people -- Yumiya and Kakashi. And Yumiya's already out on a mission. I can't help it if Tsunade-sama already knew."

Narita Yumiya, a former ANBU jounin, was Gai's friend and currently a roommate of his, due to some financial troubles on her part. There were rumors of an affair going on between the two -- and Lee had said that he suspected that Gai was at least to some degree attracted to Yumiya -- but Yumiya flatly denied anything. She had a lesbian history, having been involved romantically with two other kunoichi from ANBU, though one of her former lovers had later quit being a shinobi altogether, and the other had died in the line of duty. Yumiya was currently training with Gai to improve her taijutsu so that she could fully integrate her high-level genjutsu with taijutsu, creating something wholly new. Of course, she had to sandwich those training sessions in between her missions.

Sakura hesitated. "You mean, you didn't tell Tsunade-sama?"

"No, she said something to _me _about it. So, yeah, I suppose you could say Shizune-san found out about it through me, but not directly, and through no fault of mine."

"Oh." Sakura felt her face grow red with embarrassment. She'd just assumed that Gai had blabbed. "I... I'm sorry."

"Wow, Gai-sensei," Lee quipped. "You actually restrained yourself? I am quite impressed!"

"If you weren't so close to the rail, Lee, I'd punch you for that," Gai retorted spiritedly. "But I don't want to hurt you. You're still my cutest prize student."

Lee groaned as Neji and Tenten laughed. "Cutest, you say."

"Of course!"

"Great. That is my claim to fame with Gai-sensei: that I am his cutest student."

"Well, look at it this way, Lee," Tenten punched Lee's shoulder in a very sisterly manner, "you spent a hell of a lot more time with Gai-sensei in one year than Neji and I combined ever did. So yeah, he considers you his cutest, since you're the one he's seen the most of. That, and you used to mimic everything he did."

"I did not!" Lee retorted vehemently, and to no avail. Even Sakura knew that what Tenten said was true.

"Ooh, looks like it's about to begin!" exclaimed Hyuuga Hanabi, Hinata's younger sister and a chuunin who had been working with Nara Shikamaru's team for the past two years. "I hear that that puppeteer from Suna is up first!"

"Kurenai-sensei has been observing that one in his training. She said he's really good," Hinata added, turning to look out over the arena. "She said he might even be better than the last one we had at one of these."

"Nee-san, do you mean Kankurou-san?"

Hinata nodded.

"Given what I know of Kankurou-san," Lee said with a slight frown, "I find that hard to swallow. Kankurou-san is ridiculously strong and can control up to a dozen full-sized puppets at a time."

"He's also an adult, Lee," Sakura nudged her fiancé in the ribs, "_and_ related to Gaara."

"Right. So to say that this punk kid is better than Kankurou-san is quite a statement."

"Better than Kankurou-san was during his first attempt at the Chuunin Selection Exams," Sakura corrected gently. "But we only saw him perform once, you remember. He forfeited his final round. So all Kurenai-sensei has to go on is that one brief example. I don't think she's ever seen Kankurou-san really fight."

"Come on, you lazy bum," Gai said peevishly, prodding the turtle. "A little closer to the railing so I can actually see what's going on down there."

"That's what you get for using me as a chair," Ninkame retorted, but complied with the request, trundling forward until he was right in front of the railing. Then the tortoise plopped himself down again.

"Best seat in the house," Gai proclaimed, patting the summoning creature affectionately. "Kakashi can't beat that -- he can't sit on any of his summoning pets."

"Well, there is that large dog, the one that is about the size of Ninkame-san," Lee pointed out

"Bull doesn't like to be sat on, and Kakashi's too heavy to sit on him anyway. Nope, I got Kakashi beat there."

"As if that were the only reason you signed my contract," Ninkame said lazily. "If it were, I'd bite you right now."

Lee glanced up at the deck where the two kages were seated. "Sakura, did you want to go up there with your shishou and Naruto-kun? I am perfectly fine here with my teammates if you do."

Sakura shook her head. "I'd rather stay with you. I don't know that I'd be welcome up there anyway. The security where the kages sit is pretty tight."

Lee smiled at her and gave her a tender, loving kiss. "I love you, Sakura. I do not deserve you, but I love you."

_You're wrong there, Lee,_ she thought as she leaned against him. _I'm the one who doesn't deserve you._

* * *

**Coming soon: "Part Two: The Family Way" wherein Gaara evaluates Kakashi, Kankurou learns a startling fact he's too simple to notice himself, and a bunch of other fluffy random stuff happen.**

* * *

**END NOTES: Terminology, for those who are a bit rusty:  
**"**Geji-mayu**" is what Naruto calls Rock Lee. It translates as "fuzzy eyebrows" or as the English dub anime calls it, "Bushy Brow" and is Naruto's nickname for Lee. He doesn't mean anything rude by it, and Lee doesn't seem to mind.  
"**Ero-sennin**" is what Naruto calls Jiraiya. It means "perverted hermit" or as the English dub anime calls it, "Pervy Sage" and is Naruto's nickname for Jiraiya. Jiraiya doesn't particularly like the nickname, but he seems to get used to it.  
"**Nakimushi-kun**" means "Mr. Crybaby" and is what Temari calls Shikamaru, much to his chagrin.  
A **tanuki** isn't a raccoon -- it's actually a relative of the dog, fox and wolf, called a "raccoon dog" -- and in reality isn't related to the raccoon at all, but I thought it would help if Temari and the others believed that Suna, a raccoon, is of a species that is a relative of the tanuki. For more information, go to Wikipedia and search for "tanuki" -- that'll give you all the information you could want.  
**Hitai-ate** are the "forehead protectors" (headbands) worn by all shinobi with symbols of their home village. Because they can be worn anywhere, or not worn at all, I have chosen to use the untranslated word rather than the term "forehead protector" or "headband"  
**Doujutsu** is performing a jutsu with the eyes, such as with the Sharingan or Byakugan, though there appears to be other forms of doujutsu that aren't _ kekkei genkai_.  
A **kunoichi** is a female ninja. It is often used in the series as a synonym for ninja or shinobi, when talking about a female. Thus it's used here sporadically much as it is in the series.  
A _**kekkei genkai**_ is, basically, a "bloodline limit" -- refering to a talent or trait that is passed down genetically. The Sharingan and the Byakugan are the two most well-known _kekkei genkai_ in this series.  
The Hyuuga clan use the **jyuuken** (Gentle Fist) style of taijutsu, which requires the Byakugan to execute properly The jyuuken style targets the chakra network and internal organs.  
A **Jinchuuriki** is a human host of one of the nine different tailed demons (called "**bijuu**"). Gaara was the Jinchuuriki for Shukaku, the Ichibi (One-Tailed) and Naruto is the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi (Nine-Tailed)  
"**mou**" generally translates to "geez" or "Ah man!"  
"**mendokuse**" means "troublesome" and is Shikamaru's favorite word; I generally translate it here by having him say "What a pain in the ass," but I have Nara Shikaku say "mendokuse" to help illustrate just how similar father and son are. 

**Honorific suffixes, for those who are rusty:  
****-chan** is used mostly towards females, and indicates a long-term, close friendship. Generally one only uses it for someone one has known since childhood. From the outset in the story, Naruto has always referred to Sakura as Sakura-chan.  
**-dono** is an antiquated suffix that is less formal than _-sama_ but more formal than _-san_. It is often used to express either submission (when used in place of _-san_) or equality (when used in place of _-sama_). In this story, Tsunade uses _-dono_ toward Gaara to indicate their equality in ranks.  
**-kun** is used mostly towards males that are younger. It is a more informal, if you will, form of _-san_, but less intimate than _-chan_. It can be used towards girls, but is not usually. Rock Lee is well known for using _-kun_ and _-san_ for nearly everyone he meets, though I have him referring to Gaara with the _-sama_ suffix out of respect for Gaara's office as Kazekage.  
**-obaachan** is used to address someone who is much older. In this context, "baa" essentially means "Honorable old woman." It's sometimes translated as "granny" but is actually very respectful, as long as the addressee doesn't mind being referred to as an old woman. The male equivalent is "_-ojiichan_"  
**-oneesan** is used to address a woman who is older than you and with whom you have a relatively close, familial bond, though blood relations aren't necessary. The word "nee" means older sister, "san" is a respectful suffix, and "o" is a modifier that adds respect to the word. Thus, saying "Temari-oneesan" is like saying "Big Sister Temari-san." The male equivalent is "_-oniisan._" Sanami uses _-oneesan _to express that she is a member -- by way of marriage -- of Temari's family and that she views Temari as a sister.  
**-sama** is used to express great respect and humility. It's often translated as "Lord" or "Lady" though royalty or nobility have nothing to do with it.  
**-san** is the most generic and safest suffix to use.  
**-sempai** is used to address a superior within an organization. Rather like "brothers" or "sisters" within a cult or coven. This is the "big brother/big sister" term. Its counterpart is "_-kohai_" but isn't used nearly as much, because calling someone "-kohai" can be taken as offensive or demeaning if you're not careful.  
**-sensei** is used to address a teacher, instructor, or an expert in a particular art. Also, _-sensei_ is used to address doctors.  
**-shishou** is used to address one's master in a particular art, such as martial arts, or in the case of Sakura, in the healing arts.  
(paraphrased and interpreted from source: Wikipedia's entry on "Japanese Titles")


	2. Part Two: The Family Way

**Author's Note**: This story is set ten years after the start of the series. That means all the characters are ten years older than they were when first introduced (well, with exception of the characters introduced after the Time-Skip---but you get the picture). Since the canon story is far from concluded, I'm basing this particular story on canon as it stands right now, which is about Chapter 350. From there, I've made my own conclusions and advanced the story forward. Therefore, there are likely to be some things I will mention here that Kishimoto-sensei's future chapters of the manga will render untrue, so this may turn out to be somewhat AU.

I'm also taking some artistic license and liberty with Sakura's family. Kishimoto-sensei never really went into any detail as to what her parents do for a living, so I made some decisions myself... including names for them that I felt were suitable.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of "Naruto" or its characters. It all belongs to Kishimoto-sensei. I'm just playing in the sandbox of this amazing world. And what a fun sandbox it is! I should thank Kishimoto-sensei for creating it, it's even more fun than Takahashi-sensei's Sengoku Jidai!

* * *

**"Just Go My Way"  
Part Two: The Family Way **

"Damn," Kankurou muttered as he watched the match unfold from where he stood just behind Gaara's seat. "That runt Kai is going to get his ass beat within an inch of his life when I get a moment with him!"

Sanami frowned. "Kankurou, you're not his sensei anymore. Leave it alone."

"He's being a total jackass! A puppetmaster _never_ tells an enemy about his puppet's hidden tricks! Did he ever listen to anything I taught him?"

Gaara smirked; "I always wondered if you were actually teaching that one anything. Apparently not."

"Grr," Kankurou growled. "I ought to pop you one for that, Gaara."

"Go ahead," Gaara said. "I could use the defense practice. This match is definitely boring; for all the hype Kai has been getting, this is humiliating."

Kankurou took the permission as a go-ahead and balled up his fist to bop his brother over the head with, but before he could do it, a kunai appeared at his jugular.

"Testing Kazekage-sama's defenses is my job," Sanami said coldly, pressing the blade against the flesh of Kankurou's throat. "Your job is to protect him. Do not confuse the two."

"Whoa," Shizune said under her breath. "Temari-san said that they're married, right? You'd never guess by those interactions."

Naruto grinned. "I guess Shikamaru wasn't so wrong after all when he commented about Kankurou being whipped."

Tsunade chuckled. "Gaara, you have some lively guards."

"They are entertaining at times, yes," Gaara said, idly petting his raccoon. "They are also highly useful. I had to leave Baki home in Sunagakure, to keep things running smoothly in my absence. I would have left Temari there as well, but she insisted on coming. She would not have stayed home even if I ordered her to."

"Teammates and siblings are funny that way," Tsunade said with a distant, fleetingly sad smile.

The match dragged on for nearly an hour before Kai, the Sunagakure puppeteer genin, conceded defeat after getting ruthlessly pummeled by a Konoha genin with outstanding taijutsu and ninjutsu integration.

As the janitorial crew began cleaning up the arena for the next match, Gaara turned to Tsunade. "Would you like for me to examine your jounin now, during the break? I cannot promise to be able to diagnose anything, but I can at least assess the situation."

"Only if you don't mind," Tsunade replied.

"I would not have suggested it if I minded."

Tsunade bit back a retort; it was sometimes difficult to deal with Gaara, because the Kazekage was so blunt without meaning to be rude. It took a lot of remembering that Gaara had grown up outside social circles, even more so than Naruto, and therefore had few social graces, in order to deal properly with him without blowing one's stack.

Instead, she motioned to Naruto to go get Kakashi. The blond jounin bounced right over the railing, rather than use the body-flicker technique. Sanami almost choked upon seeing that and ran to the railing, looking over it.

"He'll be fine, Sanami-san," Shizune said reassuringly. "Our Naruto-kun is very, very agile."

"He jumps like a fox!" Sanami said incredulously.

Gaara stiffened and Tsunade's eyes narrowed.

"Sanami," Gaara said coldly. "You talk too much."

"But he reminds me of a desert fox! It's almost like he _is_ a fox!"

"Sanami!" Kankurou grabbed her by the arm, muscling her away. "You're going to make Gaara angry!"

"How? All I said is th--" Sanami was unable to speak further when Kankurou clapped a hand over her mouth and leaned in close, hissing into her ear.

"Naruto is the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi -- the Nine-Tailed Fox. Saying he's like a fox in front of Gaara is like saying Gaara looks like a tanuki, which is what Shukaku's form was. You _know _Gaara doesn't like to be reminded of that whole fiasco! Now _be quiet!_ Gaara's blasted Temari before for mentioning he looks like a tanuki. I really don't want to see you get hit with his sand."

Sanami blanched at the warning. She looked over at the Kazekage, who was staring at her with icy jade eyes, devoid of any emotion or remorse. Abruptly, her stomach roiled and rebelled; she just barely managed to not throw up on herself..

_Oh, not again! Why does this keep happening to me?_

Kankurou looked over at his brother. "Um, Gaara... I think she's sick again."

"I can see that, idiot," Gaara said, looking away. "Get Temari to relieve you, and go take care of your wife."

Kankurou nodded once and reached into Sanami's vest, pulling out a small scroll from one of the pockets. With three quick hand signs -- horse, dragon, tiger -- and a small bead of sweat from his forehead (that was part of Sanami's brilliance -- she had developed a way to summon inanimate objects without sacrificing blood, by using other body fluids such as sweat) Kankurou summoned a small orb-shaped object that floated in midair. It was a tiny mechanical puppet that could travel distances away from Kankurou and out of his sight while still being controlled by his chakra strings. It made an effective messenger tool for him to summon someone -- in this case, Temari. He was pretty sure he knew were Temari was, but he didn't want to leave Gaara here by himself to go find her, and he was quite certain Sanami was in no condition to guard the Kazekage.

* * *

Down on the first level, Temari was enjoying watching the antics of the two Konoha teams she was most familiar with, Team Asuma and Team Kurenai. Although Sarutobi Asuma had been dead for almost eight years, his students still referred to their team by his name out of honor. Team Kurenai, likewise, was no longer headed much by Yuuhi Kurenai, but they preferred to refer to themselves by her name so as to not give any one of them more honor or precedence than the other. 

Inuzuka Kiba and his longtime canine partner Akamaru had been the last to arrive, showing up halfway through the first match. He was currently being heckled by Shikamaru's teammates Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino, as well as his own teammate Hyuuga Hinata, who had migrated over with her younger sister to sit with the two teams after the start of the first match. Aburame Shino was aloof and stood off to the side, observing the antics with a stony expression.

"Do they annoy you?" Temari asked him finally.

"No." Shino raised his hand to adjust his dark sunglasses. "I am used to this. They are amusing."

"Oi," Shikamaru said from directly behind her. "What are you so smug about?"

"Nakimushi-kun, don't scare me like that!"

"Augh! Would you stop calling me that, you troublesome woman? Geez!" Shikamaru gripped the railing in frustration. "I swear, you keep bringing that old pain in the ass up... hey! What's the matter?" He noticed that Temari had gone a shade or two paler as a small golden orb floated toward her.

"Now? Already? Did something happen?" Temari held a hand out to the mechanical puppet and cupped it. Then she clenched her hand around it and climbed up on the railing, pulling a scroll out of her sash and using five hand signs in quick succession to summon her fan. "I have to go. Something must have happened, for Kankurou to want me to relieve him already after only one round."

She flipped the giant fan open with a rush of air and leaped on. Using her chakra and a lifting gesture, she brought a gust of wind up under the fan to raise it and her up and carry them to the top deck. She leaped off the fan as she reached the kages' platform.

"What's the matter, Gaara?" she asked urgently as she collapsed the fan and looked around. Gaara was sipping at a mug of water like nothing was wrong.

"Well, that's one way of doing it, Temari-oneesan," Sanami said in a strained voice as she leaned heavily against Kankurou. "I'm sorry. I need you to relieve me. I'm afraid I've gotten sick again."

"Again? That's the fourth time today alone!"

"Perhaps one of us can examine her while Kazekage-sama examines Kakashi-sempai?" Shizune asked Tsunade.

"Won't be necessary," Gaara dismissed. "I've already told Sanami what I think is wrong with her. She just doesn't want to believe me."

Sanami had turned a deep red by then and fled out the back door down the hallway. Kankurou started to go after her, but hesitated. "I... guess she doesn't need me?"

Right about then, Naruto returned with Kakashi in tow. "He was hard to track down!"

"What's this about?" Kakashi asked, warily noting that Gaara was standing up.

"Please have a seat, Hatake Kakashi," the Kazekage said calmly. "I would like to examine you."

"What for?"

"Just do it, Kakashi," Tsunade snapped. "I can't keep you on the sidelines forever."

Thus chastised, Kakashi stiffly placed himself in the chair vacated by the young Kazekage. Gaara crossed his arms contemplatively and studied Kakashi's face impassively for a full three minutes. He then leaned in close, analyzing Kakashi's right eye minutely.

"May I ask what brought this on?" Kakashi asked finally. "I'm not quite sure I understand what you're trying to find."

"Shut up and hold still," Gaara replied. "Now let me see the other eye."

"That's not wise," Kakashi said, just as Naruto said "Gaara, that's probably not a good idea."

Gaara looked over at Naruto; "Explain."

"The other eye is his Sharingan, and it's dangerous to look a Sharingan directly in... well, the eye."

"I cannot make an accurate assessment without seeing both eyes."

"Sorry, but no," Kakashi said firmly. Gaara's eyes narrowed.

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, Hatake Kakashi." The kage of Suna grasped a scroll from within his robes, flicking his thumb across his tongue to gather saliva, and running it down the scroll. With a trio of rapid gestures, he summoned his sand gourd. "The easy way entails you doing as I tell you without incident. The hard way..." The cork on the gourd popped out and sand came bubbling out of the mouth, swirling up and around the Kazekage.

"Let's just say you don't want to go there," Temari finished.

Kakashi heaved a sigh and reached up, slowly untying his hitai-ate and removing it. There was nothing overly dramatic about the incident, and yet Naruto found himself holding his breath. Gaara didn't react at all to the red iris or its three black tomoe. Finally, the Kazekage nodded his head once. "The mask too. I need to observe something."

"Now wait a minute," Kakashi protested. "I can understand if you need to see my eyes, I suppose, but there's no reason--" he was cut off when a fist made of sand clenched around his throat.

"I said we'd do this the hard way if necessary," Gaara said in a feral tone. "You're trying my patience. You're a burden on your village and an embarrassment. Your Hokage has asked me to see if I can fix you, since she's out of ideas. Personally, I wouldn't bother, but I owe Konoha a deep debt." This was a longer speech than Gaara was normally given to making, and as such he garnered some strange looks. When Kakashi didn't respond, the Kazekage resorted to a more direct approach.

"Hokage-sama, is this the best your village can come up with for a jounin? I should think Naruto alone is better than this... sorry piece of scrap. Retire him. He's useless now."

"Why you ungrateful little--" Kakashi's hands clenched into fists, but Gaara's eyes never left his. When the tomoe in the Sharingan moved, Gaara brought his hand up in a sign.

"_Katsu!_" the kage said sharply, forcing Kakashi to freeze mid-sentence.

"There's definitely something there," Gaara said after a few moments. "It appears to be triggered by emotions, violent emotions at that. I am not sure if this is a genjutsu or a curse, but it is definitely there." He stepped back a few steps and crossed his arms again. "This is complicated, Hokage-sama. I might be able to help him, but I will not be able to do it here in Konoha. I need the reference material at my disposal, and I need time, time I cannot afford to spend here in Konoha. I need to return to Sunagakure as soon as possible. The only way I'd be able to help him is if he comes with us to Sunagakure, where I will have time to observe him and make a better assessment of this ailment."

"Looks like the next match is starting," Shizune said. "Perhaps you should think on this a while, Kazekage-sama?"

"I think I will," Gaara said, motioning Kakashi to get out of his chair. The jounin did so with aplomb, retying his hitai-ate as he did so.

"For the record, Kazekage-sama, I remove the mask for no one," he added as he reached the door of the platform. Naruto tensed in anticipation of an explosion, knowing as he did that Gaara had an unstable temper. The Kazekage just smiled, a bloodless, mirthless smile that chilled the soul.

"I was trying to rile you up," Gaara said benignly, though his eyes flashed dangerously. "Genjutsu like the one suspected of being put on you react to emotions and you, as I recall, have a habit of repressing yours."

"Twenty-fifth rule of being a shinobi: kill your emotions, for they are a weakness. You of all people ought to know that," Kakashi retorted under his breath, knowing Gaara would hear him. However, the Kazekage just ignored him as he resumed his seat, abstractly placing the cork back into the gourd as he did so.

The second match started without further delay, and was over in five minutes.

"What the hell was that?" Kankurou said incredulously as the Konoha ninja stood triumphantly over the Ame-nin. "The Rain village is pathetic this year!"

Gaara chuckled... not a nice noise coming from him, either. "Unless I miss my guess, they've always been pathetic."

Temari looked slightly alarmed for a moment, flashing back momentarily to a moment ten years before when a rage-filled Gaara had wiped out three Rain ninjas with his cruel Desert Coffin and Desert Funeral techniques, all just because he didn't like the way they'd looked at him.

Kankurou balled up his fist and swatted at his brother, but a swirl of sand spiraled up and blocked the blow.

"Wha--" Naruto gaped at the sand spiral. "Where'd that come from?" He looked over at the gourd, still firmly corked.

Gaara looked over at the blond jounin, and almost smiled. "Now you understand why I have Suna with me? And why she is named for the village?" He pet the raccoon affectionately as it perched on his shoulder. "If I recall correctly, the main things Kyuubi gives you are accelerated healing and access to its limitless chakra, correct? Shukaku gave me an automatic sand defense and minute control over sand. Now that Shukaku is gone, I have to focus more chakra to control sand, and the automatic defense is gone. That's where Suna comes in. She has an automatic sand defense of her own. It isn't as strong as my old one was, but it works in a pinch and gives me time to react and reinforce."

"Which is why Gaara never goes anywhere outside Sunagakure without Suna-chan," Temari said.

Naruto grinned; "Gaara, that's awesome! I wish I had a pet like that! Er, familiar. Er, whatever she is. Partner?"

"Pet is fine," Gaara said with a mild smile. "People tend to dismiss a pet. And frankly, she is as annoying as a pet, sometimes. Would you like to pet her? I think she will let you touch her. I don't know about anyone else. It took three months to get her to let Temari and Kankurou pet her. But you are like me... perhaps she will let you."

Naruto glanced at Tsunade, who shrugged. "Kazekage-dono invited you. Who am I to forbid you?"

"Thanks, Obaachan." The kid grinned hugely and strode over to the Kazekage's chair. "Hello, Suna-chan. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Gaara's an old friend of mine; we go way back. Pleased to meet you." He held his hand out for the raccoon to sniff. Suna curled her lips and snarled at him, but a tap on the head from Gaara convinced her to take a cursory sniff. She growled again, but another tap on the head, and she quieted down, lowering her head enough so that Naruto could stroke her fur.

"So, we have another Suna-nin up next, right?" Tsunade said calmly, glancing at the booklet in her hand. "This one looks like he uses a wind-based attack."

Temari grinned. "Trained him myself," she said proudly, "but he uses a sword to cut through wind and release it, rather than using a fan to push it. It's a lot more compact and dangerous, and it means he can fight close quarters too. His biggest downfall is he's even more arrogant than Kankurou was in his prime!"

"So far we've seen a puppetmaster and now another wind user. Is that all that Sunagakure can produce?"

"Well, the third one in this finals uses primarily taijutsu, with a little bit of wind-based ninjutsu. We _are_ the Wind Country, after all," Temari said pragmatically. "I'm rather surprised there aren't more fire-based ninjas in your country. Nearly every ninja in the Water Country has water-based attacks."

"Most of the fire-based ninjas were the Uchihas," Naruto said. "Every one of them could do some pretty amazing and complex attacks. Since they were wiped out, you don't see it as much."

"Not necessarily true, Naruto, but a good theory," Tsunade said with a smile. "Fire and lightning attacks just take more chakra than earth, water or wind attacks. Lightning takes a lot of chakra to ignite, and fire takes a lot to maintain. Wind, water and earth don't take as much chakra to initiate or maintain. Or at least, that's the theory. You'd have to ask Kakashi for further information on that; he's the only shinobi I know of who can use all five elements in attacks."

"Ooh, they're starting! My money's on Neji's student though!" Naruto said with a grin. "Who are you betting on, Obaachan?"

"Hmm... Care to engage in a little wager, Kazekage-dono?" Tsunade glanced playfully at her guest out of the corner of her eye.

"I don't gamble," Gaara said flatly. Suna chittered at him scoldingly, and he relented. "Kankurou does sometimes, though."

"Um, not today, I'm not. I ain't got a coin on me." Kankurou held his hands up in submission.

"Too bad," Temari said with a grin, "because I really do think that Gatsuno has the advantage here. Looks like his opponent uses primarily taijutsu. Should be no problem."

"Naruto, I'll take you up on the wager then," Tsunade said. "I'll wager on the Suna-nin."

"Witnessed!" Shizune cheered brightly. "A wager between current and future Hokages -- that's a fun one! Now let's watch the match and see how it works out!"

* * *

Sanami sighed as she stepped out of the washroom and closed the door behind her. That had been quite unpleasant. She just hoped Kazekage-sama didn't voice his suspicions too loudly in her absence. She was pretty sure he had it right, but she was afraid to tell Kankurou yet. She wasn't sure her new husband was ready to learn he might become a father soon. 

"You are such a goofy dog, Akamaru, I swear. I'm just going to take a quick wiz, you don't need to come with me to the toil--" Sanami looked up just in time to get walked into by a big, burly Konoha chuunin who was followed by a dog the size of a pony. The force with which the chuunin walked into Sanami, combined with her instability due to her violent stomach upset, sent her sprawling.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you up!" the young man stooped and scooped her up in his arms. "So sorry, there, miss! I'm afraid I wasn't watching where I was going."

She got a good look at him, and found that his eyes reminded her of Kankurou, strangely. Dark and pinned, and yet unlike Kankurou, the pupils and irises were elongated, giving him a wild beast-like appearance. Two blood-red pyramids of paint cascaded down his cheekbones, reminding her distinctly of Kankurou's face-paint.

"I'm alright, just... please put me down," she said weakly. "I haven't been feeling so great lately."

"Hey, you're from the Sand village, right?"

_Isn't it obvious? Where the hell does he think I'm from?_ Sanami bumped her hitai-ate, displayed prominently across her forehead, with her thumb; "Yes. And I can see you're from here."

The dog nudged the chuunin, as if telling him something, and the chuunin blushed and set Sanami down. "Oh, right, sorry. Where are my manners?" He bowed before her. "My name is Inuzuka Kiba, and this is my partner Akamaru."

Now that she got a look at him, she realized this might not be a chuunin after all; he might actually be a jounin.

"Oh... er, sorry, my name is Fuuin no Sanami, or at least that's what everyone calls me." She grinned. "Until recently, my husband called me Sami-chan, until I boxed his ears one time too many for it." Almost immediately, she wondered why she had volunteered that bit of information.

"Husband? Aww, figures," Kiba said, dejectedly. "The pretty ones are always taken!"

_Pretty?_ Sanami started. She didn't think anyone ever thought of her as pretty. Despite his affectionate words and clear devotion to her, Kankurou rarely complimented her on beauty.

"Okay, now you're just flattering me!" She blushed and looked away. "Temari-oneesan would so be all over me now too, to react to that kind of flattery."

"Temari? Your sister?"

"Well, sister-in-law."

"Whoa, no kidding? Are you serious?"

"Um... yes. I am married to her younger brother... why?"

"I had no idea the Kazekage got married! What a delightful bit of gossip no one has ever glommed onto!"

"WHAT?! Are you crazy? You think I married _Gaara-sama?!_" Sanami very nearly lost what little water she'd been able to get down in between bouts of violent upheaval. "You really are crazy, aren't you? You have no idea what Gaara-sama is like! Even his own siblings fear him, still!" She caught herself before she went too far off the deep end at this young man, and composed herself. "Nevermind. I can assure you it is not Gaara-sama to whom I am married. Now, if you'll excuse me, I imagine Kankurou is worried about me."

"Hey, listen, I'm sorry," Kiba caught her by the arm. "I wasn't thinking straight. Here, let me escort you back. A woman in your condition shouldn't be alone."

"What do you mean, 'in my condition'?" she asked suspiciously.

"Er," Kiba scratched the back of his neck self-consciously. "Isn't it obvious? The fact that you're violently sick like this? And you're married and all... and I can tell by your scent."

Sanami groaned and leaned against the wall. "Dammit, I was hoping Gaara-sama was mistaken. I was hoping maybe he was just too focused on the symptoms and book-learning... I mean, he has few social graces and all, so I thought just maybe he was wrong..."

Kiba shifted nervously, releasing her hand belatedly when she glanced sharply at him. "Um, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, Sanami-san. I... will you let me escort you? To make it up to you a little bit at least?"

"Sure," she shrugged. "Just... don't touch me. Kankurou gets a little protective of me. And Gaara-sama has been on a hairpin-trigger for a temper lately. One wrong outburst from Kankurou and we could have a big mess on our hands."

"Duly noted," Kiba said. "But please, allow me to at least walk with you?"

"I didn't say no, did I? Come on, I should be getting back." She started up the stairwell toward the top platform. Kiba and Akamaru hurried to catch up to her.

"So, you're married to Kankurou? Wow, I didn't know he was... you know, interested in women."

Sanami stopped. "What are you talking about? I've never heard Kankurou's preferences called into question. People have been speculating about Gaara-sama because of how close he and Rock Lee-san got while Lee-san was there, but Gaara-sama still denies anything beyond strict friendship happened. Truthfully, I think most of it was Lee-san's doing anyway, the friendship. I don't think Gaara-sama really understands how friendships are developed."

Kiba frowned slightly. "I don't doubt you, but I find it incredible that Lee is so forgiving of Gaara. Gaara did a right number on Lee a long time ago. Nearly ruined his life. Crushed his left side with that sand of his. I've seen that sand crush a human to death, and to think that Lee managed to escape with his limbs still marginally intact..."

"You're talking about the Chuunin Selection Exams from about ten years ago, right?"

"Yeah. I wasn't there to see the whole thing, because I got myself beat up pretty good by Naruto. That was the first time I saw how strong that kid really is, too. But yeah, Shino -- my teammate -- saw the fight between Lee and Gaara, and said that Lee just blitzed the shit out of Gaara, but in the end Gaara still managed to crush his left arm and leg. Though we still don't understand why it was that Lee was able to survive the attacks."

"Kankurou told me about that," Sanami said. "He said that the reason why Gaara-sama failed to kill Lee-san at the time was because Gaara-sama had run out of useable chakra for that attack. The Desert Coffin technique requires a lot of chakra to initiate properly, and Kankurou said that because of how long Gaara-sama had the Sand Armor in place, Gaara-sama ran out of useable chakra to initiate a proper full-strength Desert Coffin. Otherwise, your friend would have died."

Kiba frowned. "From what I understand, Gaara was on the way to surrounding him with sand to completely crush him when Gai-sensei intervened."

Sanami shrugged. "I wasn't there. I wasn't even a genin at the time. But I know that Gaara-sama's sand attacks are blindingly fast when he has chakra to spare. It's when he's on the defense and has the armor in place that it slows down."

As they reached the landing, Sanami paused. "Still, that doesn't answer my question of who calls Kankurou's preference into question. He was never an ambassador here, and he had little to do with the ambassadors in Suna; he was too busy working with Kazekage-sama's upper echelon teams."

"I said that wrong, I'm sorry. I meant that Kankurou has always been so devoted to his brother, that I never thought of him showing any interest in anyone. The short time period I served as an ambassador -- before the heat got to be too much for Akamaru -- it seemed like that was all Kankurou did, was serve his brother."

Sanami shrugged again. "What do you think I've been doing for the past eight years? Do you think it was my 'beauty' that caught Kankurou's attention. I developed myself into an expert scroll-sealer partly to gain his attention. As it was, I had to practically hit him over the head with one of his stupid puppets!" She giggled in memory. "Sanshuou is pretty good for bashing him on the head with! The scroll for Sanshuou is heavier than the other puppets' scrolls, so it was fun to bash him over the head with. But you're right, Kankurou's first priority is Gaara-sama, and that's the way it should be. Because Gaara-sama isn't just his brother: he is the life of the village. If we were to lose him, we'd really be at a loss. We were able to get through almost two years after the Yondaime Kazekage was assassinated, before Gaara-sama was appointed, because of Yuura-taichou and Baki-sama. But now that Yuura-taichou is gone and Baki-sama is getting old, we're depending more and more on Gaara-sama. Especially with the whole of Kirigakure about to declare war on us. You watch," she added, shaking a finger at Kiba to accentuate what she said, "before the year's out, we'll be at war with Kirigakure, if not the entire Water Country."

"I hope not," Kiba said. "Cuz then we'll get dragged into it. I don't wanna go back to Kirigakure! Last time I was there, I nearly got killed, and Rock Lee nearly died trying to protect us all while Sakura tried to save me. Akamaru's had a weird gait ever since we got back from there."

As they reached the platform, Kankurou appeared in the doorway. "Sanami, you're starting to scare the hell out of me with these weird episodes of illness. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were poisoned by something. This could be an act of war from Kirigak--"

"Kankurou, calm down," Temari said from behind him. "Now isn't the time. Besides, Gaara doesn't seem alarmed by whatever is ailing Sanami, and he knows more about medicine than either of us do."

Kankurou snorted; "Just because he spent years reading medical books because he couldn't sleep, doesn't make him an expert."

"Be that as it may, I don't see Hokage-sama overly alarmed either, and she _ is_ a medicinal expert."

Tsunade had balled up one hand and was pressing the fist against her mouth to keep from laughing aloud. It was really quite amazing to her how naive those two siblings were being, and particularly amusing how Gaara was humoring them by keeping his silence. Shizune leaned down and murmured in the Hokage's ear; "You're drawing the same conclusion, right, Tsunade-sama?"

"Of course," Tsunade said, her words muffled by her fist. "It's almost glaringly obvious. I can hardly believe they haven't realized it themselves."

"Obaachan, do you know what's wrong with Sanami?" Naruto asked, his head tilted in his classic "?" expression.

"Well, if I were to _guess_, I'd say she's in the family way."

"Huh?"

Sanami had turned bright red again, and shrank away from Kankurou when he reached for her. Kiba, seeing the puppetmaster's frustration at his wife's bizarre behavior, hip-bumped her forward, so that she stumbled right into Kankurou's arms.

"I could smell it on her," he added, self-consciously rubbing his hand under his nose. "She about fainted when I mentioned it, so I guess even she wasn't sure."

"Sure about what, dammit?!" Kankurou demanded. "Would you all quit dicking around and tell me what's wrong with my wife?"

"Calm down, Kankurou. There's nothing wrong with her," Gaara said, not even bothering to turn and look at his brother. "These bouts of nausea are common in the first trimester of pregnancy."

"P-preg..." Kankurou's mouth hung open and he looked like he'd been hit in the face or upside the head by Temari's folded-up fan.

An explosion from below wrested everyone's attention to the match still going on. The Konoha genin, a member of the genin team Neji was the sensei for, had just unleashed a fiery technique at the Suna genin, who was apparently caught off guard. The match had been going on for almost fifteen minutes, and one of the two genin had to be running low on chakra by now, with all the ninjutsu that had been going on.

Saidan, the Konoha genin, appeared to still be quite fresh, for the amount of exertion he'd put forth. By contrast, the Suna genin, Gatsuno, looked pretty knackered.

Finally, after another ten minutes of trading blows, Gatsuno collasped, having run out of chakra. The proctor in charge of the match called the end of it.

"Hey!" Kiba said excitedly. "Neji's kid won! Er, student. Gah, I'm just really putting my foot in my mouth today!"

"Heh!" Naruto clapped Tsunade on the shoulder. "You know what that means, right, Obaachan? You lost the bet."

"Figures," Tsunade sighed. "Right, okay, you get a week off, unless I get an urgent S-rank that needs someone of your skills."

"Woohoo! Maybe Sakura-chan will let me take her on one last date, just for fun, before she gets all married off to Geji-mayu! But no fair giving my missions to Geji-mayu, Obaachan. He's still not up to his best level."

"I know that better than you, you little pipsqueak!" Tsunade said peevishly. "I'm the one who saved his life, you know! I'm the one who has to pummel Sakura when Lee-kun overtaxes himself. I can't very well punish him, but I can punish _her_ for not keeping a tighter rein on him."

Naruto gave the Hokage his most winning smile and leapt over the railing again.

"Oi! Naruto-kun!" Shizune hollered after him. "You're supposed to get someone to relieve you before you take off like that!"

"I did! Kiba's there, ain't he?" came the jounin's reply.

"Er," Kiba said. "I was only being a gentleman and escorting Sanami-san back to her spot, but..."

"Well, you're a jounin, even if not a full-ranked one yet," Tsunade said. "I guess it'll do for now. If the daimyou wants to make something of it, I'll box his ears. Damned bloody paranoid rules."

* * *

In the Hyuuga box, everyone was slapping Neji on the back for a job well done with his first squad of genin. Saidan's triumphant win over the Suna-nin had proved that Neji knew what he was doing, even if his training methods were a bit unorthodox. (Though, really, he came by _that_ quite honestly, since Gai's training methods could hardly be considered orthodox by any stretch of the imagination.) Even Tenten's boyfriend, an ANBU member who operated under the code-name of Yosho, had dropped in to congratulate Neji. 

Just as things had quieted down a bit, there was a puff of smoke on the railing, and an orange-clad blond jounin crouched precariously on the steel rails.

"Naruto, you twit, what the hell?!" Sakura yelled when Naruto nearly fell backwards off the railing. She jumped forward and grabbed him by the jacket, hauling him off the railing and onto the solid floor. "Of all the places land! You could break your neck if you fall from this height, and even the Kyuubi probably wouldn't be able to help you then!"

"I'm, er, not very good at it, I guess," Naruto said with a sheepish grin. "Maybe when Kakashi-sensei gets back, he can give me some tips."

"Gets back?" Gai said with an arch of his eyebrow. "Is he finally getting an assignment?"

"That's what I came down here to tell you about, Sakura-chan!" Naruto threw his arms around Sakura and spun her around. "It sounds like Gaara can probably help Kakashi-sensei! They need to take Kakashi-sensei with them back to Suna so they can evaluate him more, but from the way Gaara said it, I think they can help him!"

"Really?"

"Really! Gaara made it sound like the chances weren't good, but knowing him, the chances have to be pretty good for him to even bother with it."

"That's wonderful news!"

"Even better, Obaachan lost a bet with me, so I get the week off unless something S-rank come through that requires me."

"So are you going to spend that week off looking for Sasuke?" Gai asked, sitting up from where he had reclined a bit on Ninkame's shell.

"Well, maybe," Naruto said, pausing slightly. "But I thought maybe I'd try to spend some time with Sakura-chan and Geji-mayu too. I've hardly seen much of them in a long time."

With Tenten in ANBU and Neji now in charge of his own team of genin, Lee had been left somewhat floundering for teammates. His complete lack of genjutsu and ninjutsu abilities meant that it was usually not wise to send him alone on missions. After Yamato and Sai had returned to their ANBU duties, Tsunade had reassigned Lee to Naruto and Sakura's team on a regular basis, even before Sakura and Lee started getting intimate. Now they were capable of working fluidly together, though Sakura was the lynch-pin in their teamwork, since Naruto had ten years of experience working with her and could react subconsciously to her actions. Sakura and Lee were a more recent pairing, of course, but they made up for it in their time spent together. Lee was helping Sakura to sharpen her taijutsu, and she was in turn trying to help him at least recognize and dispel genjutsu.

Gai made a face; "That reminds me, Lee. Tomorrow at sunrise. Training field three. I want to see if we can't get you up to the level to do Asa Kujaku. You're close."

Lee's face remained impassive, but Sakura could tell from the way his eyes glinted that he was looking forward to a sparring match with his sensei. "I will definitely be there."

"No sleeping in, mind you." Gai wagged a finger in gentle admonition. The slightest emphasis on "sleeping" was lost on no one, except maybe Naruto.

"Gai-sensei," Lee said with a nervous chuckle. "You know me. I will definitely be there promptly."

"Mmm," the older jounin murmured. "Neji!"

"Eh? Yeah?"

"Good work, my boy. I always knew you were a winner!"

"Okay, Gai-sensei, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

Gai's response was to disappear. Ninkame released a few heartbeats later.

"Typical," Naruto said. "Say, Sakura-chan, what say you to me treating you to dinner after this is over. Er, both of you. Sorry, Geji-mayu. Didn't mean to make it seem like I was putting the moves on your fiancée."

"I'm afraid we've got plans tonight, Naruto," Sakura said. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Plans? What plans?"

"My parents want to celebrate my engagement."

"Ah, I see. Oops, that signal's from Obaachan." Naruto reacted to a glimmer of light from the kages' deck. "I've got to be getting back. Look, I'll see you later, Sakura-chan. Maybe not today, but definitely tomorrow, unless something major comes up."

Naruto flickered out of the box without bothering to wait for a reply.

"So, we have plans tonight?" Lee said curiously. "This is the first I have heard of them."

"I'm sorry, Lee, I meant to tell you that Mom and Dad asked that we come over for dinner tonight, and it totally slipped my mind! You didn't already have plans, did you?"

"No," her fiancé said with an amused smile. "I did not. I was wondering what we should do, if you wanted to celebrate."

"I can think of something you can do to celebrate," Yosho said suggestively, "but I don't think your parents should be anywhere nearby!"

Tenten cuffed him in the gut; "Hey!" Sakura threw a shuriken at the ANBU member, bouncing it off his shoulder armor. Lee balled up his fist and threatened to punch Yosho. Neji mimed going into his Eight Trigrams pose.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! Geez, you people are ruthless!" Yosho laughed as he held up his hands in submission.

"Neji-sensei! Neji-sensei!" a voice called joyously from the hallway behind the box. It was Neji's other two genin, Airi and Ryouta, barreling up the hallway. "Did you see that, sensei? Saidan kicked that guy's butt!" Ryouta exclaimed. "Totally owned his butt!"

"Yes he did," Neji moved to the doorway. "But he's not done yet, you know. He still has more rounds to go now. What are you two doing up here?"

"Saidan-kun said he was fine. He's meditating in the medic ward to regain his strength," Airi said. "We didn't know what else to do, since they wouldn't let us stay with him, so we thought we'd come find you."

"Good. Well, he's still got at least one, and possibly two, more rounds to go."

Sakura nudged Lee with her arm; "C'mon, I want to find Ino."

"But why do you need me?"

"Well, I thought maybe you'd like to come with me, but if you'd rather stay here..."

"Er," Lee blinked at her, trying to gauge her meaning.

"Lee-san!" Ryouta appeared in front of them. "I wanted to ask you a couple of questions, if you don't mind. Is that okay?"

"Go on, Sakura," Lee gave her a gentle nudge. "I will wait for you here."

"Alright," Sakura said with a shrug. "Suit yourself." She started to turn away, but he caught her hand before she could leave in a huff. Raising her hand up to his lips, he gave her knuckles a gentle, chivalrous kiss. Any anger she had building up at his stubbornness wicked away instantly at the sincerity in his eyes. She really couldn't stay mad at him for very long, though sometimes she tried. He was just so damned _nice_. It could be infuriating.

Once out in the hallway, she broke into a jog toward the stairwell to the first level. She was pretty sure she knew where her friend Yamanaka Ino would be. She'd meant to find Ino earlier, to give her the news, but it had slipped her mind in the chaos of the exam finals.

She very nearly ran into Shikamaru turning a corner. Shikamaru wasn't watching ahead either, apparently lost in thought, and it was only her sharp movements to avoid him that alerted him to her presence, and he instinctively shied, slamming into the wall.

"Gyah! Sakura, you startled me!" The jounin blinked owlishly at her. "The ladies' room is the other way, you know."

"I was coming to your box, I wanted to talk to Ino. She's there, right?"

"Eh? Uh, yeah, I think she's still there, unless she went to yell at her old man."

"Okay, thanks." Sakura sidestepped Shikamaru and continued on her way. _ Someone really should pummel him and Temari-san with clue-bats. The way they flirt with each other and yet don't realize that they're doing it, or that each other is doing it... As brilliant as he is, he's so damned _dense_ sometimes! When even Naruto can see it, it's got to be obvious!_

"Sakura!"

Sakura turned a little to see Ino approaching. "Found you, Ino!"

"I heard a rumor!" Ino said brightly, her cyan eyes glittering. "A little birdie told me that Lee popped you the question!"

"Good grief, news travels fast!" Sakura grumped.

"So it's true? You said yes, didn't you?"

"Of course I did! What, do you think I'm insane?"

Ino squealed with glee and threw her arms around Sakura. "Yay! I'm so happy for you, Sakura! Congratulations! When's the wedding?"

"Give me a break, Ino!" Sakura laughed, hugging her back. "He just asked me this morning; we haven't had any time to plan anything!"

Ino giggled as she let go and spun herself around gleefully. "This is awesome news, Sakura! He's such a great guy for you! I'm kinda envious. In the end, you landed the best guy in the village, just not the one we thought originally. You never change, Billboard-brow! It makes me so mad, and yet so happy for you at the same time, so what the hell, you know?"

Ino had been Sakura's rival in the beginning of their tenures as kunoichi. They had both set their sights on Sasuke and had alternated between archrivals and close friends during the halcyon days in the village before the Sandaime Hokage was assassinated by Orochimaru. Ten years ago now, already...

"Sakura?"

"Eh?"

"You had this really serious look on your face. Is everything alright?"

"I was just thinking about our first chuunin exams, ten years ago. How it all ended with the Sandaime Hokage-sama dead, and Naruto and I had to fight Gaara over Sasuke, because of that stupid curse seal. It's... not a nice memory. Especially when I remember what Gaara did to Lee." Sakura shuddered at the gruesome memory of twin tendrils of sand wrapping around Lee's left arm and leg and crushing the bones nearly to dust. "If Tsunade-sama hadn't returned to Konoha... I wonder if Lee would even still be alive? I can tell even now that the damage there was not fully reversed; it's entrenched too deeply, but Tsunade-sama's healing ninjutsu stopped the injuries from deteriorating further with time."

Ino sobered up. "Yeah, I still get chills thinking about what Gaara did. That was really horrible. I also remember that at one point, I wanted to hit Asuma-sensei for not stepping in, but then again, Gai-sensei was the only one who interfered. I sometimes have nightmares about that sand, if you want to know. Even though I know that Gaara's an ally now, and that he was driven insane by that demon in him. What amazes me is that Lee was able to forgive Gaara for that so easily, and developed such a close friendship with Gaara after all he went through."

Sakura toyed with a strand of her hair. "Lee says it's pointless to hold grudges, to hold a previous action against a person. He never looks back, you know. He has no regrets about anything. He sees every difficulty as a challenge, a hurdle to be cleared."

Ino snorted; "Well, that's all well and good, but I can hold a grudge. And I am holding a grudge. Naruto says he's going to bring Sasuke back to the village, and I hope he does, cuz I want to beat the shit out of him for all he put us through. Neji and Chouji nearly died chasing after him, Shikamaru nearly quit being a shinobi because of that disaster mission, and look what you've been through, just for his sake. Sasuke has a lot to answer for. I'm just glad you've moved on, Sakura. That asshole doesn't deserve you."

Sakura looked away; "I really don't think you should talk like that about Sasuke. I really think he's had a good reason to stay away from Konoha all this time. If you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about him anyway."

"Sorry. So, I know you've been with Lee a while now, but I don't know that you ever told me what first attracted you to him. Why Lee, of all people? What do you like best about him?"

"Wow, what a set of questions!"

"Sorry, I'm just really curious. It just seems so weird that you're going to marry Rock Lee, after devoting so much time to trying to win Uchiha Sasuke. They're so different."

"Well," Sakura leaned against the wall, bracing her foot against it to keep her balance. "I don't know exactly what it is about him, I just know that his continued devotion to me has been a big part of it. I mean, all the things I fantasized about Sasuke doing, are things that Lee would do. Sasuke would never even think of doing anything romantic like leaving flowers for me in random spots, or love notes.

"Lee's so damned romantic, it's almost annoying. I mean, I had a feeling he was going to propose, and frankly, I rather expected him to do it in public or something bizarre like that. I'm kind of glad he did it the way he did. He's always thinking of me. I swear he even dreams about me. And," she added a few seconds later, as a thought struck her, "he makes me laugh. I feel so alive when I'm with him. He takes great joy in living each moment as it comes, come what may, and seems to genuinely delight in simply being alive. Before I fell in love with Lee, I really don't know that I laughed much at all. I mean, Naruto's a clown and all, and Kakashi-sensei's got one hell of a warped sense of humor, but I don't know that I ever _really_ laughed, not until I started spending a lot of time with Lee. I learned what it means to be in love with life. I mean, Gai-sensei is so damned ridiculous, but he enjoys whatever he does and he almost never has any regrets. I don't think he even regrets teaching Lee the Omote Renge or the Ura Renge. Both of them view life as something precious to be enjoyed at all times. When I'm with Lee, I feel loved and accepted, and so incredibly happy to be alive. I'm not sure how to explain why I love him. I just know that I never really realized how wonderful it is to be alive until he showed me. Am I crazy?"

Ino patted her shoulder. "It's okay, Sakura. You're not crazy, unless being in love makes you crazy, in which case there's nothing wrong with it. I was just curious. But wow. I wish I could find a guy like that."

"Well, Gai-sensei's still a bachelor," Sakura grinned waspishly. "If you want someone just like Lee, he's your man!"

"Eww!" Ino shrieked. "Are you kidding me? No way in hell! He's almost old enough to be my father! No thank you, I don't think I could put up with that."

Sakura laughed. "Well, just so you know that I'm not hogging it all. After all, if there's a jounin in this village that can do literally anything, it's Gai-sensei. His taijutsu is better than Lee's, and his ninjutsu and genjutsu aren't too shabby."

Ino waved this off; "He's an old fart as far as I'm concerned. No thank you." Then she brightened. "You must let me design your bouquet for your wedding, Sakura! I'll use a lot of daffodils, if you like."

Sakura blushed. The daffodil had become a flower somewhat symbolic of her relationship with Lee, since she had brought fresh-cut daffodils to him nearly every day he was in the hospital convalescing from the injuries Gaara inflicted on him. "Sure, Ino. If we even have much of a wedding. We may just do something very small-scale. I mean, the only thing we really need to do is sign the registry with witnesses, one of which has to be the Hokage. Anything else is just elaboration."

Ino snorted. "Well, even if you do choose to just do the basics, you can do it holding a bouquet I design especially for you, right? Of course!"

Sakura chuckled. "Sure, Ino, whatever you like."

"Hey! Ino! The next match is starting! Are you going to watch or what?" Ino's teammate Chouji hollered from the box.

"Coming with?" Ino asked Sakura, who shook her head.

"I told Lee I'd be back after I'd had a chance to talk to you."

"Ah, okay. See you later, Sakura, and congratulations!"

* * *

"Good grief," Temari said, her arms crossed bemusedly across her chest. "You really need to chill, Kankurou. She's not that fragile. Being pregnant doesn't automatically turn a woman into a spun-glass sculpture." 

Sanami was balling her hands into fists, ready to pummel Kankurou in the chin if he didn't let her up soon. Shortly after Gaara dropped the bombshell, Kankurou had forced Sanami to sit down and drink at least a liter of water, and any time she tried to get up and return to her duties, Kankurou bullied her back to her seat.

Tsunade just hid her smile behind a hand. This was more entertaining than the matches going on down below. They were now in the final round. Neji's student Saidan had managed to pass his second match, versus the Konoha genin who had won the first match on the day. He'd lucked out because that genin had been low on chakra due to the length of match versus Suna's puppeteer Kai. Now he faced off with Sanada, the Sunagakure genin who excelled in taijutsu and wind-based ninjutsu. People were getting antsy for the whole thing to be over with.

Gaara in particular was restless. He didn't like being away from Sunagakure for very long, and even though he hadn't been in Konoha more than a few hours, it had been more than three days since he'd departed the Sand village.

His familiar Suna, named for the village he lived for as well as her own sand-shield defenses, cuddled herself up against his chin, making her happy little chittering noises, similar to Kankurou's cat back at home. Purring, it was called with cats. Well, this noise wasn't quite the same, but it meant the same thing coming from her that a purr did coming from a cat.

He could feel her rapid little heartbeat through her fur as she scrubbed against him affectionately. She was probably the only creature to accept and love Gaara completely and unconditionally.

"That genin is good," Shizune said. "I had no idea Neji-kun was that good of a teacher. That kid was a real screw-off in the Academy, I'm pretty sure. I recall Iruka-sensei really tearing his hair out over Saidan."

Tsunade grinned. "Well, Naruto had something to do with that, I think. I believe Saidan got stuck in the missions room with Naruto when Naruto was in a bad mood. I don't know _how_ that happened..." She chuckled evilly. "Iruka says that ever since then, Saidan was an attentive student... which is why he managed to graduate. And it seems like he's blossomed under Neji's tutelage."

"He's a good strategist too," Temari said admiringly. "He's pulled a few really clever tricks to catch his opponent off guard. It takes a lot to overpower Gatsuno, and he did it with ease. The best way to defeat Gatsuno is to outsmart him, and that's what that kid did. And he's really holding his own against Sanada."

"He moves like Rock Lee," Gaara mused. "Not as fast, but those movements are distinctive."

"Well, Neji-kun was Lee-kun's teammate from the beginning, which means they received the same training," Shizune said. "Gai's influence is all over Saidan-kun, I can say that much, and I'm pretty sure that Gai hasn't worked with him directly."

Gaara's brow twitched with slight irritation, but he didn't bother speaking.

Abruptly, the match was over, when Sanada fell to his knees in fatigue and forfeited the match, having run out of energy, chakra, and strength.

"Whew!" Tsunade let out a relieved sigh. "My backside is starting to ache from sitting here so long. Kazekage-dono, I do insist that you and your escort take advantage of our hospitality. We have prepared some rooms for all of you. It's too late in the day to start a journey toward Sunagakure."

Gaara grimaced slightly. He really wanted to be back home, but he could tell that Tsunade wasn't going to be refused here, and Kankurou, Temari and Sanami in particular seemed quite exhausted. "Very well, but I want to be on my way home by early tomorrow. I should not be away from Sunagakure longer than a week."

"I understand. There is another matter I suppose we should discuss in the meantime. The matter of Kakashi."

Gaara paused to seal his gourd back into its scroll. After a few moments, he leveled his gaze at Tsunade. "I cannot spare any jounin to leave you in exchange for him, particularly as he is of little good if he is this unstable. What I saw in that red eye was enough to scare Suna." He hitched his shoulder to indicate the baby raccoon still clinging to him. "I suspect that if I still contained Shukaku, that Shukaku would have reacted. Whatever it is that has affected that eye, it is dangerous and unstable. Unfortunately, I do not know enough about this Sharingan to understand which parts of what I saw are normal to this doujutsu, and which are the potential infection."

Tsunade rubbed her chin idly as they walked toward the administrative building. "The Uchihas were very secretive about their _kekkei genkai_. Almost as closed-mouthed as the Hyuuga are about theirs. However, I do believe that there is some classified information about them somewhere in the archives. Uchiha Itachi was not the first Uchiha to become an S-class criminal missing-nin. Because of the varied nature of the Sharingan, some documentation was taken of the abilities and techniques, though Kakashi has stated that the research is only half complete at best, due to the evolving nature of the Sharingan. I'll see what I can find for you. That's the least I can do, if you're going to try and fix whatever's wrong."

"A question, Hokage-sama."

"Yes?"

"Is Hatake Kakashi part of the Uchiha lineage?"

"No."

"Then how does he have this Sharingan, if it is a _kekkei genkai_?"

"His Sharingan is a transplant. One of his teammates from when he was very young was a young man named Uchiha Obito. On Kakashi's first mission as a jounin, they were ambushed by Iwa-nin, and in the fray, Kakashi lost his left eye. They were then caught in a ninjutsu-created cave-in, and Obito was crushed under the rocks. The other teammate was a young medic-nin named Rin, and Obito offered to give his intact Sharingan eye to Kakashi, because his injuries were fatal. Thus, Rin transplanted the Sharingan from Obito to Kakashi. However, because Kakashi is not of the Uchiha lineage, he does not have complete control over the Sharingan, and so he keeps it covered when he does not need it, to prevent it from draining him of chakra needlessly, since it consumes a substantial amount of chakra.

"Incidentally," Tsunade added, almost as an afterthought, "I know all this detail partly because I've made Kakashi tell me, and partly because I knew Rin. I was one of the ones who trained her in medical ninjutsu."

"I presume this Rin is dead?"

"Yes. She died years later, however; her death is not connected with Kakashi, other than she was his teammate at one time."

"So, this Sharingan of Hatake Kakashi's is a parting memento from a teammate."

"Yes. From what I understand, there is substantial personal guilt on Kakashi's part, however, though I am not sure it is entirely justified."

Gaara digested this for a few minutes as they walked. Their jounin escorts -- Shizune, Naruto, Kankurou, Temari and Sanami -- ranged silently behind them.

"Guilt, you say," Gaara spoke again after a lengthily silence. "So this Sharingan of his is a constant reminder of something that haunts him with guilt?"

"That is my understanding, yes. You could say he has survivor's guilt -- feeling guilty because he survived when his teammate died. But I think there's far more to it than that."

"That... complicates matters." Gaara frowned. "On the other hand, if it is primarily this guilt that is triggering this doujutsu to go awry, then perhaps the solution won't be as complex."

"So, you think you can help Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"I will try, Naruto. I cannot promise that anything I do will be of any help. For all we know, I could very easily make it much worse. But I will try."

* * *

"Sakura, I really must insist that you use your head once in a while," Lee said gently, trying to steady his fiancée's erratic movements. "Next time, tell your father a polite but firm 'No.' Honestly. This is ridiculous!" 

"Sorry," Sakura grimaced as she stumbled. "Wow... is it raining? Everything's all watery."

After the Chuunin Exam finals had ended, they had gone about their daily duties, and at six o'clock they had gone to her parents' house for dinner. Unfortunately, after dinner, Haruno Noboru had insisted that his daughter and future son-in-law join him in a celebratory bottle of sake. Lee had managed to talk his way out of it, reminding Noboru about his reputation with the "Drunken Fist" method, but Sakura had felt obligated to make up for Lee's teetotalling. She was really feeling it now. That sake had been _really _strong.

They were walking home... or rather, Lee was walking home. Sakura just sort of stumbled along beside him, too drunk to know exactly what she was doing.

"Wups, my bad," she muttered as she tripped over her own feet and nearly went face-first into the pavement.

"Good grief," Lee said finally, scooping her up into his arms. "I will just carry you. It will take less time this way."

"I'm sorry," she murmured as she snuggled against him. "I'm such a burden to you, aren't I?"

"I never said that."

The weather was nice. It had cooled down pleasantly after sunset, and the moon was nearly full, casting a glamorous half-light on the main street of Konoha. Lee was in no huge hurry to get home; he enjoyed a walk in the moonlight like this, though he would have enjoyed this more if Sakura were sober. It rather killed the romantic mood, smelling sake on her breath and feeling her sag in his arms from alcohol-induced fatigue. _She will be hung over in the morning if I do not do something drastic when we get home._

"I don't deserve you, Lee, but I sure do love you," Sakura murmured as she pressed her forehead against the curve of his neck. "I dunno what you see in me, I'm such a lame twit who doesn't know what's good for her. Dunno why you'd wanna marry someone like me."

_She has gotten to the maudlin stage, I see. _Lee couldn't think of anything to say to reassure her, since she was being rather unreasonable as it was, so he kept his silence.

After about ten minutes of silence, Sakura shifted in his arms.

"Lee?"

"Yes?"

"Does it worry you?"

"Does what worry me?"

"The prospect of Sasuke coming back."

"Should I be worried?"

"Er," Sakura looked confused. "I dunno. But everyone keeps asking me if I'm sure I'm doing the right thing, cuz I spent so much time and energy on Sasuke."

"Put the thought from your mind, Sakura. There is nothing for you to worry about. Whatever will be, will be. If I must, I will challenge Sasuke to a duel for you."

She giggled rummily. "I'm sorry. I'm getting depressing, aren't I? Oh god I'm going to want to die in the morning. I can just see the hangover from here!"

"Not to worry, Sakura," he said reassuringly. "I will see to it that you do not get a hangover."

A few minutes later, they arrived at his home. As he snapped on the lights, he set Sakura down on the sofa and went into the kitchen. Sakura tried to gather chakra together, to see if she could somehow purge herself of the alcohol using chakra, like Tsunade sometimes did after a particularly strident bender. But she couldn't hold her concentration long enough to mold the chakra.

"Here," Lee thrust a large glass of water under her nose. "Drink this. Hangovers are caused by dehydration, so to prevent a hangover, I will see to it that you drink lots and lots of water."

"'m not thirsty, though," Sakura said.

"Drink it anyway. Trust me, Sakura, this will help keep the hangover away." To emphasize his point, he did his favorite "Nice Guy Pose." Sakura giggled as she took the glass and started drinking, though her stomach protested that it didn't need any more fluids.

Half an hour later, Sakura was sure she was going to explode. _Geez, how many liters does he intend to force into me?_ Her eyes were getting so heavy from fatigue -- both alcohol-induced and genuine -- and she was ready to spit out any more water he tried to dump down her throat.

Instead, he scooped her up, carrying her to the bedroom and depositing her on the bed. In her sloshy state, she couldn't really follow what he was doing, but complied anyway. Adroitly, he stripped her of her usual clothes and dressed her in her favorite nightgown, then tucked her into the bed, and sat down on his side of the bed -- on top of the covers -- and just looked at her silently.

"Er," she said. "Aren't you going to... join me?"

"I will. But you need sleep. Drinking lots of water and getting lots of restful sleep should keep you from getting a hangover."

Abruptly, she teared up. She sniffled and wiped her eyes.

"Sakura?" He was alarmed. "What is it?"

"Damn you, Lee, you are so goddamned selfless, it makes me so... I don't deserve you, why the hell do you love me?"

_Interesting twist. Now she is in the aggressive stage. She runs the whole gamut multiple times before the alcohol wears off, if I am recalling correctly._

He just smiled benignly at her. "Go to sleep, Sakura. Everything will be better in the morning."

"I sleep better in your arms, you know," she whimpered, changing moods _ again_. Drunkenness was certainly entertaining, for a while, but mostly it was a hassle.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I will be back in a few minutes. I need to pick up the house before I go to bed."

She grunted as he left the room to attend to the chores. By the time he was done, she had fallen asleep. He changed into his sleeping clothes and climbed into the bed as well, turning out the light on the nightstand by the bed. As darkness consumed the room, he pulled her close and curled around her, sighing contentedly into her hair.

"I love you, Sakura. If Sasuke comes back and wants you for himself, he will have to get through me first." _Unless you want to go to him,_ he added silently. _I would never chain you down._

"Pfft," she muttered sleepily as she snuggled against him, "I can take him m'self. Bastard deserves to be wiped along the floor."

_She does not really mean that_, Lee told himself. _But it is nice to hear._

* * *

**Coming soon: "Part Three: The Konoha Ninja Way" wherein Gaara and his escort depart for Sunagakure, and Lee spars with Gai, and things just get complicated.**

* * *

**END NOTES: Terminology, for those who are a bit rusty:  
**"**Geji-mayu**" is what Naruto calls Rock Lee. It translates as "fuzzy eyebrows" or as the English dub anime calls it, "Bushy Brow" and is Naruto's nickname for Lee. He doesn't mean anything rude by it, and Lee doesn't seem to mind.  
"**Ero-sennin**" is what Naruto calls Jiraiya. It means "perverted hermit" or as the English dub anime calls it, "Pervy Sage" and is Naruto's nickname for Jiraiya. Jiraiya doesn't particularly like the nickname, but he seems to get used to it.  
"**Nakimushi-kun**" means "Mr. Crybaby" and is what Temari calls Shikamaru, much to his chagrin.  
**Hitai-ate** are the "forehead protectors" (headbands) worn by all shinobi with symbols of their home village. Because they can be worn anywhere, or not worn at all, I have chosen to use the untranslated word rather than the term "forehead protector" or "headband"  
**Doujutsu** is performing a jutsu with the eyes, such as with the Sharingan or Byakugan, though there appears to be other forms of doujutsu that aren't _ kekkei genkai_.  
A **kunoichi** is a female ninja. It is often used in the series as a synonym for ninja or shinobi, when talking about a female. Thus it's used here sporadically much as it is in the series.  
A _**kekkei genkai**_ is, basically, a "bloodline limit" -- referring to a talent or trait that is passed down genetically. The Sharingan and the Byakugan are the two most well-known _kekkei genkai_ in this series.  
"**Katsu**" is a word spoken to bring focus (as demonstrated by Deidara in his fight against Gaara). However, here I use it through Gaara as a means of saying "Hold it! Don't move!"  
A **Jinchuuriki** is a human host of one of the nine different tailed demons (called "**bijuu**"). Gaara was the Jinchuuriki for Shukaku, the Ichibi (One-Tailed) and Naruto is the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi (Nine-Tailed) 

**Hidden Villages:**  
**Konohagakure**: "The Hidden Village of Leaves" is the principle village of the Land of Fire (Hi no Kuni), and is headed by the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade.  
**Sunagakure**: "The Hidden Village of Sand" is the principle village of the Land of Wind (Kaze no Kuni), and is headed by the Godaime Kazekage, Gaara.  
**Kirigakure**: "The Hidden Village of Mist" is the principle village of the Land of Water (Mizu no Kuni), and is headed by the Mizukage.  
**Iwagakure**: "The Hidden Village of Rocks" is the principle village of the Land of Earth (Tsuchi no Kuni), and is headed by the Tsuchikage.  
**Kumogakure**: "The Hidden Village of Clouds" is the principle village of the Land of Lightning (Rai no Kuni), and is headed by the Raikage.  
**Otogakure**: "The Hidden Village of Sound" is Orochimaru's creation. It has no kage.  
**Kusagakure**: "The Hidden Village of Grass"  
**Amegakure**: "The Hidden Village of Rain"

**Attack names:**  
**Asa Kujaku** means "Morning Peacock" and has not yet been officially translated into English  
**Omote Renge** means "Front Lotus" or "Initial Lotus" though the English dub calls it the "Primary Lotus"  
**Ura Renge** means "Reverse Lotus" though the English dub calls it the "Hidden Lotus"

**Honorific suffixes, for those who are rusty:  
****-chan** is used mostly towards females, and indicates a long-term, close friendship. Generally one only uses it for someone one has known since childhood. From the outset in the story, Naruto has always referred to Sakura as Sakura-chan.  
**-dono** is an antiquated suffix that is less formal than _-sama_ but more formal than _-san_. It is often used to express either submission (when used in place of _-san_) or equality (when used in place of _-sama_). In this story, Tsunade uses _-dono_ toward Gaara to indicate their equality in ranks.  
**-kun** is used mostly towards males that are younger. It is a more informal, if you will, form of _-san_, but less intimate than _-chan_. It can be used towards girls, but is not usually. Rock Lee is well known for using _-kun_ and _-san_ for nearly everyone he meets, though I have him referring to Gaara with the _-sama_ suffix out of respect for Gaara's office as Kazekage.  
**-obaachan** is used to address someone who is much older. In this context, "baa" essentially means "Honorable old woman." It's sometimes translated as "granny" but is actually very respectful, as long as the addressee doesn't mind being referred to as an old woman. The male equivalent is "_-ojiichan_"  
**-oneesan** is used to address a woman who is older than you and with whom you have a relatively close, familial bond, though blood relations aren't necessary. The word "nee" means older sister, "san" is a respectful suffix, and "o" is a modifier that adds respect to the word. Thus, saying "Temari-oneesan" is like saying "Big Sister Temari-san." The male equivalent is "_-oniisan._" Sanami uses _-oneesan _to express that she is a member -- by way of marriage -- of Temari's family and that she views Temari as a sister.  
**-sama** is used to express great respect and humility. It's often translated as "Lord" or "Lady" though royalty or nobility have nothing to do with it.  
**-san** is the most generic and safest suffix to use.  
**-sempai** is used to address a superior within an organization. Rather like "brothers" or "sisters" within a cult or coven. This is the "big brother/big sister" term. Its counterpart is "_-kohai_" but isn't used nearly as much, because calling someone "-kohai" can be taken as offensive or demeaning if you're not careful.  
**-sensei** is used to address a teacher, instructor, or an expert in a particular art. Also, _-sensei_ is used to address doctors.  
**-shishou** is used to address one's master in a particular art, such as martial arts, or in the case of Sakura, in the healing arts.  
(paraphrased and interpreted from source: Wikipedia's entry on "Japanese Titles")


	3. Part Three: The Konoha Ninja Way

**Author's Note**: This story is set ten years after the start of the series. That means all the characters are ten years older than they were when first introduced (well, with exception of the characters introduced after the Time-Skip---but you get the picture). Since the canon story is far from concluded, I'm basing this particular story on canon as it stands right now, which is about Chapter 350. From there, I've made my own conclusions and advanced the story forward. Therefore, there are likely to be some things I will mention here that Kishimoto-sensei's future chapters of the manga will render untrue, so this may turn out to be somewhat AU.

I'm also taking some artistic license and liberty with a few characters, such as Sakura and Lee's families, and Iruka's former sensei. Kishimoto-sensei never really went into any details about those people, so I made some decisions myself... including names for them that I felt were suitable. For what it's worth, I'm going on the assumption that Obito in fact died, and did not become Tobi, which is what a lot of people speculate actually happened to Obito.

Also, I should add that the rating on this chapter is a little higher than the rest of the story, because of allusions to certain adult themes and situations. Also, for a bit coarser language.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of "Naruto" or its characters. It all belongs to Kishimoto-sensei. I'm just playing in the sandbox of this amazing world. And what a fun sandbox it is! I should thank Kishimoto-sensei for creating it, it's even more fun than Takahashi-sensei's Sengoku Jidai!

* * *

**"Just Go My Way"  
Part Three: The Konoha Ninja Way **

Sakura awoke when the sun finally broke through the bedroom window's blinds. Murmuring to herself, she rolled over to put her back to the window. Her vision was blurry and her thoughts were slushy, but her forehead didn't pulsate with acute pain like she'd expected.

Lee was already gone, she noted as she stirred. Not a surprise. He was supposed to meet Gai-sensei at the third training field at sunrise. And Lee was fanatical about being on time, a trait he claimed he'd had even before he'd met Gai-sensei, who likewise stressed being prompt for appointments.

Her stomach rumbled obnoxiously. _'Feed me NOW!!'_ it screamed at her. However, another organ also decided to make itself known. _'Empty me RIGHT NOW or you'll be sorry!!'_ shrilled her bladder. Which made sense. Not only had she had too much alcohol last night, but Lee had forced her to drink nearly two liters of water before bed, and had periodically throughout the night awakened her to give her another glass of water, insisting that hydration would keep her from being hung-over.

Well, it must have worked, because her head didn't hurt. It felt funny, like it wasn't quite working right, but it didn't hurt.

Once she'd finished taking care of the Call of Mother Nature, Sakura took a very quick shower, scrubbing her scalp vigorously in an attempt to scour away the fuzzy sleepiness. After toweling off, she slipped on a simple red shift, intent on just lounging around the house until her wits came back to her.

"God, I hate cooking," she muttered to herself as she went into the kitchen. As she opened the refrigerator, she saw that Lee had apparently made some riceballs, most likely for lunch, and had left some behind for her. Almost like he'd known she'd be hungry when she woke up and wouldn't want to fix anything.

Without warning, she found herself blinded by tears. _Why is he so good to me? I don't understand. What on earth did I ever do to deserve him?_

She shook her head violently. "Stop it, Sakura. Stop being so damned maudlin!" She grabbed two riceballs and poured herself a glass of milk, then went and sat out on the sofa, nibbling her breakfast and trying to get her brain to work right.

It was a little weird that since Lee's marriage proposal about this time yesterday they had not really had a chance to make love. Somehow, she'd figured that would be the most natural thing to follow something as momentous as an engagement. But then again, she reminded herself, they'd been pretty busy immediately afterwards, and then when they'd finally had the time, she'd been too many sheets to the wind to be in any condition for it.

_Well, maybe I can lure him home around noon and pounce him,_ she thought to herself, an impromptu prudent blush creeping up her cheeks. _After all, something like this should be consummated._

She giggled to herself as she finished the riceballs and drank the last of her milk. She wasn't a big fan of milk, but she knew that calcium was important, especially for a kunoichi, and also for a healer-nin. So she tolerated it and drank it out of necessity.

"Sakura-chan!" There was a knock at the front door. "Sakura-chan, are you going to come see Kakashi-sensei off?"

"He's leaving?" she asked as she opened the door to reveal Naruto hastily zipping up his jounin vest and straightening his hitai-ate.

"Yeah, he's going to Sunagakure with Gaara. Remember?"

Sakura pressed her hand to her forehead. "Sorry, I kind of got a little drunk last night."

"Drunk?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Did Geji-mayu...?" The two of them had heard from Gaara a long time ago full details of how Lee had fought against an Oto-nin named Kimimaro while roaring drunk from a mistaken bottle of sake. Gaara had been both impressed and confused by what he'd seen, saying that Lee had fought like a beast possessed of only half its wits but twice its normal capacity of rage. Gai corroborated the story, saying it had taken himself and Neji to hold Lee down once. In short, Rock Lee plus alcohol equaled Big Trouble.

"No, he talked his way out of it. My dad wanted to celebrate with a bottle of sake, and he can be pretty insistent, so as a result I had to drink enough for both myself and Lee. I got pretty hammered. I think Lee was annoyed with me. Anyway, give me five minutes to get fully dressed and I'll be there. Actually, if you'd like to come inside and wait, I'll make it as quick as I can."

"You don't look hung-over," Naruto pointed out as he stepped inside the door and waited patiently while she hunted down her sandals and uniform. "You must not have been that drunk."

"Oh, I was, but Lee apparently knows a hangover cure. I don't know how he knows, or what he did, but it worked."

Naruto chuckled; "It's probably something Gai-sensei taught him."

"Probably," Sakura tied her hitai-ate on like a hair band, as she'd always worn it out of habit. Grabbing up her kunai pouch and shuriken holster, she dropped her glass and plate into the sink in the kitchen. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Five minutes, huh?" Naruto grinned. "Shortest five minutes I've ever seen."

"Shut up, twit," she laughed, punching him in the shoulder. "Now let's go."

* * *

They just barely made it to the front gates in time to see off the Sunagakure contingent. Shikamaru and Kiba were there, as was Neji. Gaara was talking with Tsunade when Sakura and Naruto arrived. 

"Heh," Sakura grinned, "I suppose it's a good thing Lee's not here."

"Why?"

She pointed to where Kankurou was standing, adjusting the harness straps on a big black draft horse. "That's why."

"Kankurou?" Naruto blinked slowly. "Why would Geji-mayu be afraid of Kankurou?"

"No, idiot!" Sakura swatted him on the head. "The horse. Lee's afraid of horses."

"You're kidding, right? I mean, come on, it's just a big dumb animal!"

Sakura giggled. "He's been bit and kicked by them before. He said his uncle, who raised him, bred and raised prize horses, and that when he was very young he got bit and kicked and stepped on by a horse, and he's been afraid of them ever since. He knows he shouldn't be, but his fear is irrational."

"Bizarre." Naruto shook his head bewilderedly. "Who'd expect Rock Lee to be afraid of such a harmless animal?"

"Luckily for him," Sakura grinned, "Konoha doesn't use them, so he doesn't encounter them often. But clearly Sunagakure does use them occasionally."

"Wussamatta?" Kankurou inquired, noticing that they were looking in his direction.

"I was just telling Naruto about Lee's fear of horses."

"Eh? Oh, right, I forgot about that. Silly thing to be afraid of."

"Oh, like you have room to talk!" Sanami retorted. "You're afraid of desert monkeys and weasels!"

A vein popped out on Kankurou's face, near his left eye, and his eyebrows twitched in annoyance. "Thanks for announcing it, _Sami-chan_!"

"Settle down," Gaara said idly, without even looking at them, as though this were an everyday event. He was in the middle of looking over a small handful of documents that Shizune had handed him.

Naruto and Sakura approached Kakashi, who was standing off to one side, looking indifferent as usual. Pakkun, his favorite ninken, was draped drowsily over his left shoulder.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said as they came within speaking distance of the silver-haired jounin.

"Yo," Kakashi said lazily. "Guess Tsunade-sama doesn't need me anymore. I'm being demoted to a chuunin's job."

"No you aren't," Sakura retorted. "Tsunade-sama would never do that to you! She's sending you to Sunagakure to be healed, because she can't do it herself! Don't talk about my shishou like that."

"I was, er, joking," Kakashi said, holding his hands up in a defensive submissive gesture.

"You could serve some good being away from the village again," boomed a voice of scratchy brass.

"Eh? Ero-sennin, what are you doing here?" Naruto's eyes grew huge and round as Jiraiya, the Gama-sennin and one of the three great Konoha Sannin, sauntered up. He hadn't changed hardly at all in ten years, except to put on a bit more weight around the girth, which his clothes hid fairly well.

"Partaking of the festivities, what does it look like?" Jiraiya fired back a peeved rejoinder. "Kakashi. I've been searching and gathering information, and there's a possibility that your old student might be somewhere in the vicinity of Sunagakure."

"Old student?" Pakkun groused, stretching languidly and yawning in Kakashi's ear. "What old student? I can only think of three he's had, and two of them are in front of us." The pug rolled slightly, pushing his back against Kakashi's ear. "The other is missing."

"Exactly," Jiraiya said gravely. "Someone vaguely fitting Sasuke's description has been reported just northwest of Suna's westernmost borders. Perhaps you can do some recon while you're there. Confirm or dispel the rumors as they are."

Sakura gulped in astonishment. Naruto made a strangled noise, but Jiraiya shot him a dangerous glare, forcing him to stay quiet.

"I'll try," Kakashi said, "but I don't know how much freedom they'll give me."

"I've already informed Tsunade, who will be telling the Kazekage about it in confidence. I imagine Gaara will allow you to do some reconnaissance while he does research. If you can't, well, let Tsunade know."

Naruto looked like he was going to choke on his questions, but Jiraiya's glare had silenced him. He had spent more than two years in Jiraiya's tutelage and knew better than to push the sennin's bad buttons too hard. When Jiraiya had _that_ look in his eye, it was best to do as he said. Sakura likewise held her silence.

Gaara appeared right then, having used the sandy body-flicker technique to transport himself over to the middle of the escort party. "Kankurou, let's go. I want to be within the desert by sundown tomorrow, if possible."

"Right! Okay, you maggot-headed bakas, let's MOVE OUT!" Kankurou bellowed to the jounin some distance beyond the gate. "We got a long-ass way to go and Kazekage-sama wants to make it as short as possible."

Temari stuck a finger in her ear and grimaced. "That's Kankurou for you. All lungs and no brain."

"Shut it, Temari," Kankurou grumbled as he hefted a pack onto the horse. "Oi! Jirouko! It's your turn with the horse."

A jounin kunoichi came toward him and grabbed the reins on the horse, leading it forward. As the contingent filed through Konoha's gates, Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck. "Ready, Pakkun?"

"Sure. You're the one doing the running, remember?"

Sakura spontaneously threw her arms around Kakashi, accidentally knocking Pakkun off as she did, and gave him a hug. "Good luck, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Good grief, Sakura, it's not like I'm going on an S-rank mission. This is probably a C-rank at best, if you can even call it a mission." Nevertheless, the jounin returned her hug. "But thank you, Sakura. And congratulations, again, on your engagement. I have no idea how long I'll be gone, so I may not be back in time for your wedding. Don't hold it up on my account." Pakkun resumed his post on Kakashi's shoulder, giving Sakura a dirty look as he did so.

She laughed as she let go; "Well, we haven't even discussed any plans at all, beyond my mom insisting we throw a big one. I'm sure you'll be back before then."

Gaara eyed her pointedly; "This could easily take a year or more. Or it could take a few weeks. It depends on what all is involved and how, if possible, it can be fixed. I will not know until I have had time examine the situation in much greater detail." His gaze shifted to Naruto. "But I will do what I can. I owe Konoha, and you three in particular, a great debt."

With a slight bow, Gaara body-flickered his way to the front of the line, several hundred meters away. Kakashi raised his hand in parting and followed suit. The highest ranking jounin joined their Kazekage at the head of the column and began moving forward at a decent clip of speed. Within five minutes, there was no sign that a fair-sized contingent from the Sand village had been here.

"Naruto," Jiraiya said severely. "I want you to promise me you won't go haring off after this lead in Suna."

"You mean it's legit?" the young jounin gaped. "I thought maybe you were making that up to keep Kakashi-sensei from thinking he was being banished or something!"

Jiraiya snorted. "Kakashi's far too smart for that. Yes, the lead is probably legit, but that doesn't mean that it's actually Sasuke. And even if it is, you can't go charging off after him right now. We need to confirm his whereabouts and ascertain his goals or intentions. And you aren't the one to do that; you'll be the one we send out when the time comes to close in on him--not before then. So you," the old ninja pointed a finger almost accusingly at Naruto, "are to stay here in the village and do as you're told. Don't forget, you're the one Jinchuuriki that Akatsuki never caught, and while most of the members have been accounted for, we've never managed to catch their ringleader, or figure out whatever happened to the sealing statues that they sealed the bijuu into. So it's possible that they're still around."

Naruto huffed. "I'm not afraid of any of them."

"I really don't care, Naruto. They may or may not be targeting you anymore, but that doesn't mean you can be careless. You _are_ the Hokage's chosen successor, after all."

"And that means, you crazy little yellow-haired runt," Tsunade added, "that you need to start acting like a responsible adult, even when faced with temptation like that. Jiraiya speaks for me here, when he forbids you to follow up on that potential lead. You are needed around Konoha. Let others do the scout-work. If I find out you've disobeyed me here, and I _will_ find out if you do, then... let's just say Sasuke will be the least of your worries." She left unsaid what unpleasant punishment awaited Naruto if he disobeyed, allowing his imagination to run wild.

"Right, Obaachan, sure," Naruto scowled -- his adult version of a pout -- and looked away. "I'm just tired of waiting around doing nothing."

"Look at it this way, Naruto-kun," Shizune said gently. "We've had hundreds of false-leads over the years, many of them more promising than this one. Rather than waste your time several days' journey away from home, let someone else do the scouting and see if there's any substance to the rumor. If there isn't, you won't have wasted time. If there _is_ some truth to the rumors, then you can perhaps investigate further. Jiraiya-sama isn't too hopeful that this will pan out, but he wanted to check it out anyway, just in case."

"We had a wager yesterday," Tsunade said firmly, "and in acknowledgement of that wager, I gave you the week off from missions, barring any emergencies. However, being that you are still partly on-call, I expect you to be nearby in case something does come up. I will remind you that we may end up at war with Kirigakure soon, and Kumogakure has shown signs of being hostile. I need my best jounin close at hand and ready for anything. Therefore, you are not to leave this village without first gaining permission, just like my other high-level jounin. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Obaachan," Naruto relented.

Tsunade glared at him with her piercing gaze, before finally accepting his answer. She turned to Sakura. "Same goes for you. As one of my most talented healers, you need to remain near at hand for when I have to send out someone on a dangerous S-rank. With the way they've been piling up, I'm going to be forced to send Lee on an S-rank soon, and if I do, I want either you or Shizune to go with him. That's about the only way I can guarantee he'll make it back."

Sakura nodded soberly, her blood chilling slightly. She'd known this would happen someday. A shinobi's life was dangerous, violent, and often very short. Lee had been on reprieve for a long time, ever since that disastrous mission to Kirigakure that had very nearly cost him his life. For the past seven or eight months, he had been restricted to C-rank missions, due to his injuries. Then about three months ago he'd graduated to B-rank. His rehabilitation had been much slower than when he'd suffered the fractures at Gaara's hands, because many of his injuries in Kirigakure had been internal and had been near vital organs. Neji had even commented that Lee had taken a blow very near one of his Gates, which could be potentially fatal if there was damage to that Gate and Lee tried to use it without knowing about the damage.

But now that Gai-sensei had deemed him fit enough to learn the secrets behind the Sixth Gate's technique, Asa Kujaku, it was clear that Lee was healed enough to begin taking on A-rank missions, and potentially S-rank. It was inevitable. The only comfort Sakura could take from this was that the Hokage was going to make sure she sent her best healers along with him when he did get sent on something dangerous. It was unwise to send him alone on any mission above a B-rank, because of his complete lack of ninjutsu and genjutsu. Sakura had to hope that if her beloved was sent on a dangerous mission, she and Naruto both would go with him. As a team, they worked very well, with Lee's superior taijutsu, Naruto's complex array of ninjutsu tricks, and Sakura's adeptness at recognizing and dispelling even the most complex genjutsu. Even more importantly, particularly to Sakura as a healer, and Lee as one who frequently needed a healer, Naruto had a nearly endless supply of chakra, and could transform it into something transferable if needed by a healer. This meant that even though Sakura herself had only a mediocre store of chakra, as long as Naruto was available there was almost no limit on what she could do as a medic-nin; she was only limited to what was possible with ninjutsu. If she had to do something drastic, Naruto could lend her overwhelming amounts of chakra.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at Sakura, who belatedly realized that the Hokage expected an actual answer out of her. "Understood, shishou. Besides, you haven't given _me_ the week off, have you?"

"Smart girl. Now, Jiraiya..." the Hokage eyed her old teammate and friend. "Oh forget it. I can't control you. Just you be available if I need you."

"Sure thing, Tsunade, but I do have research to do."

"Gah, research!" Naruto threw his hands in the air. "Ero-sennin, you haven't changed at all!"

"He hasn't changed at all in the fifty years I've known him," Tsunade said. "What makes you think he'd change now?"

A great black messenger bird soared overhead, headed for the aeries and the message tower. Tsunade and Jiraiya both watched it fly, and then glanced at each other meaningfully

"I'll be back in twenty minutes," Jiraiya said, as if a thought had passed between himself and Tsunade. Then he body-flickered out of the area.

"Dammit," the Hokage grumbled. "I was hoping for some peace and quiet. What the hell does Iwagakure want now?" She turned and strode away, with Shizune following her as always.

After a few moments, Sakura and Naruto both decided they had essentially been dismissed. The others who had gathered to see of the Suna contingent were long since gone.

"So what are you planning on doing today, Sakura-chan?" he inquired as they turned away from the gate and headed toward the heart of Konoha.

_You mean aside from luring my fiancé home at lunchtime and ravishing him?_ She thought to herself, managing to keep the blush down. _Good grief, I'm hopeless. I have one thing on my mind, and being a shinobi has nothing to do with it!_

"Er," she said, to stall things a bit, "I hadn't really planned on much. I'd like to see if I can get Lee to come home for lunch around noon or so; I'm going to try to fix something special for him." _It just won't be food,_ she added mentally. "But beyond that, no, I didn't really have any plans."

"Noon, you said?" Naruto looked up at the clock tower. "Okay. It's six now. You'll probably want to be home by eleven then. That gives me a good five hours. You're mine for those five hours!"

She stared at her friend, suddenly at loss for words.

"Er, as friends. I don't intend to get in the way of your relationship with Geji-mayu. But you owe me a date for that last one that got ruined. And since you'll be getting married soon, you're running out of time to pay me back."

Sakura wanted to scream. She loved Naruto dearly, but she didn't think she'd be able to pay him the attention he deserved and demanded, not when all she could think about was the quickest way to get Lee out of his uniform and into bed. She doubted Naruto wanted to know about her sex life, and frankly that was the only thing on her mind right now.

_God, I must be about to ovulate or something. Damned hormones. Geez. I can't believe how preoccupied with this I am._ She scrubbed her face with her hands.

"Sakura-chan, what's wrong?"

"Naruto, can I take a raincheck on that? I'm still... I don't think I'll be very good company to you today. I'm still feeling the effects of the alcohol last night, and I'm... I'm in a weird mood. I just don't think I'll be able to give you the attention you deserve. I'm really sorry."

Naruto pouted. "Oh fine. But I'm holding you to this. You _owe_ me a date, you know. This may be my last week off for a while. And if that bird from Iwagakure is something important, then I may not get the week off after all."

"Thanks for understanding." She hugged him. "You're such a great friend and teammate. I don't know what I'd do without you."

As she turned toward the direction her and Lee's apartment was in, Naruto spoke up, this time in a tone that was eerily serious. "You know, I'm not stupid, Sakura-chan. I'd appreciate it if you didn't treat me like I am." She froze in her steps, suddenly chilled by his voice. "I spent more than two years with the Ero-sennin. It's not like I'm ignorant. I know what goes on between a man and a woman who are in love. I'm not necessarily swift on the uptake like Shikamaru or anything, but I'm not an idiot."

Sakura slowly turned to face him, feeling a blush creep up her cheeks.

"I..."

"Look, I'm not asking much, just... I'm not an idiot. I'd prefer it if you didn't lie to me. Even if it is just a white lie. Honesty, that's all I'm asking." He raised an eyebrow. "You cry too easily, Sakura-chan."

Sakura brought a hand up to dash the tears from her cheeks. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Naruto. I didn't mean to... I just..." Her emotions, apparently pissed off at her, overwhelmed her and she nearly choked on a sob.

He stepped forward and put his arms around her, pulling her close and hugging her tightly. "I didn't mean to upset you, Sakura-chan. I just want you to realize that I'm an adult too, and I'm not an ignorant moron. I know about sex. Remember, Ero-sennin wrote those books that Kakashi-sensei's always reading."

"I didn't mean to... I'm sorry... god, I'm a wreck!"

"It's been quite a week, hasn't it? And you've always been an emotional wreck after big events." Naruto teasingly goosed her, earning a weak swat from her.

For a moment, Sakura reflected on her friend's growth through the past ten years. He'd really matured in his mannerisms. He still tended to act like an idiot when he got excited. But when he was clear-headed, he could speak very eloquently. All those years of training and drilling in diplomacy and public speaking with Jiraiya and Tsunade had paid off in spades.

"Tsk, tsk. Putting the moves on Lee's fiancée already, Naruto?" an amused voice said from nearby. "That's not very nice. You really don't want Lee angry with you. Word is that Gai-sensei has been itching for a good fight lately, ever since Kakashi-sensei stopped accepting any of his challenges. I imagine Gai would be more than happy to take you on in your sensei's stead."

"Oh, good morning, Iruka-sensei."

The chuunin stood about five meters away and had his hands on his hips, but his face was wreathed with an affectionate smile. "I'm serious, Naruto. You shouldn't go feeling up another man's fiancée."

"Eh, I'm not afraid of Geji-mayu or his goofy sensei. Besides, he knows I'm not going to get in the way."

"Naruto-kun!" Shizune came pelting down the street toward them. "Emergency! Hokage-sama needs you!"

"Damn," Naruto grumbled. "So much for the week off."

The blond jounin used the body-flicker technique to meet up with Shizune.

Sakura sighed. "I hope we're not about to go to war."

"Don't worry, Sakura," Iruka said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Naruto's tougher than anyone in this village. Even without that crazy fox."

"Naruto's not the one I'm afraid for," Sakura murmured, bringing a hand to her chest.

"Not to worry, Lee won't be going anywhere for a while yet. Hokage-sama wouldn't send him out on something he can't handle. He's still recuperating from that fiasco in Kirigakure."

Sakura looked up at the man who had been her academy teacher. "You are aware that Gai-sensei is teaching Lee the Asa Kujaku now, aren't you? If Gai-sensei thinks Lee's fit enough to learn that, then he's fit enough for A-rank and S-rank missions."

Iruka's eyes widened. "Lee can't learn that technique. It requires rudimentary ninjutsu. It's a fire-attack. Yes it's primarily taijutsu, but it requires ninjutsu to ignite the flames."

Sakura shrugged. "I imagine Gai-sensei knows that better than you, Iruka-sensei, and yet he's still decided to try to teach it to Lee. But that attack requires Lee to open six Gates, which worries me."

"I think it only needs the Gates to actually execute the full attack; you can go through the motions and learn the movements without the extra chakra boost. I know something about taijutsu, after all. I've never gone further than the First Gate, but I know most of the theories. Asa Kujaku is Gai's technique, however, so obviously I don't know as much about it. But cheer up, Sakura. The more he trains with the attack, the better he'll be able to control it." The chuunin patted her shoulder. "And anyway, you can be sure Gai-sensei will take good care of Lee."

"I know. I just..." Sakura sighed. "I don't want him to learn such a dangerous technique."

"That's why you have to do your best as a healer, so that if the worst happens in a mission, you can save him," Iruka said pragmatically. "I have faith in you, Sakura. Everyone's saying you're the most precocious healer-nin anyone's seen since Tsunade-sama, and even Tsunade-sama acknowledges your talent over other healer-nins."

Sakura looked away, trying to will the tears to stay away. Iruka tilted his head slightly. "Shall I walk you home, Sakura? You look like you need to talk to someone."

Sakura nodded numbly. "But not home. I'm going to the third training field. I need to tell Lee something. But you're welcome to come with me. I could use the company, I think." _The company of someone who never had romantic designs on me, at least._ She thought in addition. _Sorry, Naruto, but I'm not convinced you're not jealous._

Iruka smiled gently and pocketed his hands, assuming an unintimidating, slouchy posture as he strolled along beside her. "So what's on your mind?"

"Well, Lee and I have talked recently about having children, and whenever I think about getting pregnant, I get this horrible fear that Lee will end up going on an S-rank; I think of what happened to Asuma when Kurenai was pregnant. I don't know that I could bear it if he were to die like that. But if I'm pregnant, it's not like I can go along to make sure he comes back. And I can't ask him to give up missions while I'm pregnant, especially since even afterwards, someone will have to stay home with the baby."

Iruka's brow furrowed. "Sakura... are you pregnant now? Is that what you're so concerned about?"

"No, no!" She waved her hands. "I'm pretty sure I'm not. I mean, I suppose it's possible, but I'm quite certain I'm not. But, it's still a possibility in the near future. And with the threat of war with Kirigakure, I'm really getting scared. Am I over reacting, do you think?"

"Perhaps, but it's natural to over react when you're emotionally invested. Just keep your perspective. And," the teacher added, "have some faith in Hokage-sama. She'll take care of you and Lee. If you're lucky, by the time you're pregnant, Tsunade-sama will have resigned her post to Naruto, and she can take over when you're out on maternity leave. If you can't trust Lee's well-being to Tsunade-sama, who can you trust?"

She sighed; "I'm just... I don't know."

"I can understand that you're afraid, Sakura. It's very natural. He's a vulnerable shinobi because of his numerous injuries and his lack of ninjutsu. But he's also very intelligent and knows his own limits. And so do Tsunade-sama and Naruto. Naruto might act like a ditz, but he's really learned how to organize and mobilize people; he'll make a good Hokage when Tsunade-sama steps down, even if he doesn't have her knack for healing. No one wants to see Lee killed, I can guarantee you that, least of all Naruto. And those in charge of assigning Lee's missions -- both now and in the future -- aren't going to jeopardize him if they can avoid it. Besides, he's still pretty talented, you know."

The kunoichi twisted her mouth in an expression of uncertainty. "I know that. But I still... it's hard to explain."

"It's okay, Sakura. I understand. Why don't we change the subject? This one is just stressing you out, and it's too early in the day to get that stressed!" Iruka flashed her a bright smile. "Shall I regale you with tales from the Academy? I've got a class learning how to throw shuriken, and they are really clumsy, clumsier than your class was. Gah, I always did hate the first week of shuriken and kunai training." The academy teacher flushed slightly in embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his neck, his flush making the odd scar across the bridge of his nose stand out in sharp relief. "I really think I need my head checked, if I'm still teaching at the Academy after all this time. I know several of the jounin have asked me why I never bothered to put in for a promotion."

Sakura grinned and clucked her tongue. "Tsk, tsk, Iruka-sensei. You're the best teacher in the Academy and you know it."

"Am I? That's the first I've heard of it."

"Ha!" Sakura laughed. "Didn't you know that Gai-sensei won't accept any students from the Academy that you didn't work with? He says students who haven't passed through your curriculum don't have enough appreciation for taijutsu."

Iruka laughed self-consciously. "Does he now? I didn't know that. Funny thing, though, cuz he hasn't passed a single genin team since Neji, Lee and Tenten all moved on. He's more inclined to take on S-rank missions rather than be assigned to another genin team, it seems."

They passed by the first training field, which was in use by Shikamaru and his teammates. Chouji was yawning repeatedly and whining about the "ungodly" hour. Ino was warming up with some kunai throws. Hyuuga Hanabi, who had joined Team Shikamaru after her own teammates and sensei had died, was warming up her body with a series of stretches to limber up. Shikamaru, as usual, looked bored.

"Anything else on your mind, Sakura?"

"No, not really. I mean, nothing important."

Iruka chuckled. "You mean nothing you want to talk about out loud, right?"

_Sting._ Dead in the black. "Okay, am I really that obvious?" She demanded.

"Afraid so, my dear," the teacher laughed. "You've always been pretty obvious around people who know you."

Sakura groaned and buried her face in her hands. "I should just lock myself in my room until this phase passes, then. This is embarrassing!"

Iruka laughed and put an arm around her shoulders, giving her a quick hug; "Come on, you're young and passionately in love. Most of us have been there before. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Don't you _dare_ say anything about the Springtime of Youth! You do and I'll brain you!" Sakura threatened, fighting down a giggle. "Gai-sensei drives me absolutely bonkers with that whole Springtime of Youth crap he spouts all the time! That's the one glaring downside to being with Lee -- dealing with Gai on a regular basis. Honestly, nice guy and all, but ugh. A little of him goes a long way."

Iruka halted, leaning against a tree; he was laughing so hard he could barely breathe or walk straight. For a good three minutes he gave himself over to the gut-twisting laughter until he could finally breathe again. "Oh my god, Sakura," he chuckled as he wiped laughter-tears from his eyes. "Don't let Lee hear you say that."

"Oh hell, Iruka-sensei, I tell Gai off on a regular basis. Lee knows I don't put up with Gai's bullshit."

"You've got quite a mouth on you these days, Sakura. I don't know that I've heard that kind of language out of you before."

"Eh heh," Sakura grinned sheepishly. "I've been around Tsunade-shishou too much. She gets really vulgar when she's had too much sake. Speaking of which, have you ever seen Naruto drunk?"

"Er, no. What kind of drunk is he? Silly?"

"Ha! No, he's already silly. No, he's the weepy maudlin kind. Except that it's really funny how he is. He's normally so upbeat and optimistic, but when he's had a few too many drinks, he starts whining about stupid, stupid stuff, and he says things that he'd never say sober. He even said that he hates the color orange!"

Sakura's laughter died off when she saw that Iruka had fallen completely silent, his attention wrenched from her and directed toward a spot over the trees. A bright rust-red bird was circling lazily. Iruka had gone three shades paler upon seeing it.

"What's that bird?"

"That's the bird that they use to announce emergency S-ranks, calling all available S-rank jounin to the Administrative building... Something terrible is happening."

They had just arrived at the outskirts of training field three when this happened, and just as Iruka finished speaking, Gai-sensei appeared in front of them abruptly. "What's going on?" he demanded. "That bird--"

"I don't know," Sakura said helplessly. "A messenger bird came in from Iwagakure, and Shizune-san told Naruto that it was an emergency... but..."

"Iwagakure?" the jounin repeated, his voice as hard as steel.

"Yes, that's what Tsunade-sama said."

"Bloody hell!" Gai disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What is going on?" Lee jogged up. "Gai-sensei just flashed out on me. This is the first time he has ever interrupted our sparring without telling me why."

"A bird came in from Iwagakure right after the Kazekage's escort left," Iruka said. "And now they have the Red Alert bird in the air."

"Oh dear." Lee grimaced. "That... is bad news."

"Very bad," Iruka agreed. "Very bad indeed."

"Oi! Sakura-chan! Iruka-sensei! Geji-mayu!"

"Naruto?" Sakura turned around, astonished to hear his voice. "Weren't you just...?"

"Sakura-chan, have you seen Shikamaru? I need to find him immediately. We'll need his brain."

"Shikamaru's over at training field one. But what's going on, Naruto?" Iruka interrupted. "Gai-sensei just left here in frenzy."

Naruto gestured for them to follow him as he ran toward the first training field.

"That message from Iwagakure was a warning. They got some intelligence. Kirigakure is going to try to assassinate Gaara and make it look like Konoha's fault."

"Oh god," Sakura said. "And Kakashi-sensei is with them now, which could potentially make it even worse if he gets taken by surprise too! How could they have known he'd go with the Suna escort?"

"I doubt they knew," Iruka said. "It's probably just a boon in their hands. And it could work in reverse for them anyway."

"They do realize, do they not, that Gaara-sama is not that easy to take down?" Lee inquired. "With that sand defense he has, he is nearly impossible to take out quickly."

"Douse him with water and his sand is useless," Naruto said with gritted teeth. "That's why we need Shikamaru."

"I am not following your logic, Naruto-kun."

"Forget it, Geji-mayu."

"Oi, Naruto, where the hell are you going?" Shikamaru yelled from behind them. "Suna's the other way! You're wasting time!"

"Shikamaru--"

"Yeah, I know. Shino sent me a messenger bug. Now let's get moving if we're going to catch up to the Suna escort! But, uh, Lee, you and the chuunin shouldn't come. This is S-rank. You're not up to S-rank yet."

"You'll probably need a healer!" Sakura retorted.

"Already got one," Shikamaru waved it off. "Shizune's already grabbed herself a team and taken off. Naruto, are you coming or not?"

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan, we'll stop them," Naruto said as he body-flickered away, following Shikamaru.

"Well that's annoying," Iruka sighed. "I'm a little unsure of the veracity of that warning. Iwagakure hasn't be hostile for twenty years or more, but they were at war with us at one point. They haven't been hostile, but they haven't been allies either."

"Maybe not," a voice said from behind, "but they aren't friendly with Kirigakure either. A weakening of the Konoha-Suna alliance would serve to benefit Kiri, and would not necessarily benefit Iwa."

Tsunade stepped out of the shadows, flanked by Jiraiya and two older jounin that Sakura didn't recognize but who bore the Konoha hitai-ate.

"It goes back to geography, really," the taller of the two new jounin said. "Iwa is north of Suna and west of us. Kiri and Kumo are east of us. Iwa trades with Suna, who trades with Konoha. If the alliance between Konoha and Suna crumbles, one or both could fall into financial ruin, and Iwa would be left without trading partners. It will naturally have more allegiance to us than Kiri or Kumo."

Iruka raised an eyebrow; "Hachirou-sensei, I'm surprised to see you again."

The tall jounin, whose hair was a salt-and-pepper parti-color, snorted in surprise. "Good grief, is that you, Umino Iruka?"

"You shouldn't even ask that question, Hachirou-san," the other unrecognized jounin retorted. "I'd recognize that scar anywhere."

"Fuck off, Katsurou," Hachirou said acridly, but without real animosity. "My eyes aren't as good as they used to be, you know."

"Heh," his partner chuffed, "I've offered to help you with that, but you always refuse." He tossed his head slightly, shifting his gaze to Iruka. His hair was a bright coppery red, and his face was checked with scars and stubble. "Nice to see you again, Iruka-kun."

"Katsurou-sensei," Iruka greeted, offering both a polite bow.

"You know these two?" Sakura asked.

"Hachirou-sensei was my jounin sensei when I was a young genin," Iruka said with a small smile.

"You haven't advanced beyond chuunin, eh, Iruka-kun? Pity. Your teammates both became jounin."

"That's enough reminiscing," Jiraiya said. "We've got a potential war on our hands. We need to be ready at the signal."

"Pray the signal doesn't come," Tsunade said. "That's why I sent Naruto. If anyone can find and catch up to Gaara before the Mist-nin attack, it's him."

* * *

Kakashi shifted his pack to adjust where its weight hit him as he vaulted through the canopy of the forest. These Sand-nin were adept at moving through a forest, considering they lived in a desert. Even their ninja-horse was able to move through the forest canopy in ways that no horse should. Of course, the fact that the horse had a hitai-ate attached to its bridle rather identified it as more than just a regular horse; it was someone's summon. 

Pakkun perched on Kakashi's head, shifting his weight effortlessly with each leap so as to minimize his interference. He kept his nose up in the air, scenting for trouble. Since Kakashi had to keep his eyes open for trouble around and below, he needed Pakkun's abilities to scent unfriendly presences around from further away. Pakkun's sense of smell was much more capable of adjusting to differences in speed. He could use it for more than just tracking, though that was primarily what he used it for.

Kakashi just knew that something was going to happen. He couldn't say how he knew, only that he _knew_ something would occur. He was just waiting for the axe to fall.

As they moved through a particularly dense portion of the forest, Pakkun's claws spasmed, digging into Kakashi's scalp. The pug growled. That was all the Konoha jounin needed to hear.

"Sanami-dono," he spoke up to the nearby kunoichi. "Something's wrong."

"Huh?" the woman turned and glanced at him. "What's wrong?"

"Something's coming at us," Pakkun said. "I can't say who they are, I don't recognize them, but they're ninja. And they're hostile. Best be prepared for an attack. They're coming at us with a lot of force."

The Kazekage apparently heard this, because he halted on the next branch landing. Temari and Kankurou both nearly collided with him. Kankurou muttered something unsavory as he nearly fell off the branch, belatedly using his chakra to root himself to the tree.

"We'll wait here for whatever approaches us," Gaara said coldly, folding his arms across his chest in his most recognizable gesture. His pet raccoon huddled down under the cowl of his robes, but the sand pouring from her fur came spiraling out and around the Kazekage like a protective arm. Kankurou summoned his two favorite puppets, Karasu and Kuroari, and Temari readied her battle fan; the two of them bracketed Gaara protectively. Sanami took up a stance behind her husband, backing up against him, readying a handful of shuriken in her left hand, and four kunai in her right. Even without his sand barrier, Gaara was protected by three of his most trusted jounin standing less than half a meter from him.

The nin-uma, named Kurosuna ("Black Sand" was actually an appropriate name for this animal, Kakashi reasoned) landed next to the Leaf jounin. Kakashi tried not to look at the horse's feet, because frankly a horse shouldn't be able to stand like that! The Copy-nin had seen any number of things in his day, but he wasn't very familiar with horses, since Konoha didn't use them. In his experience, horses just didn't travel that far above the ground, and they certainly didn't stand like _that_!

"Sanami," the horse spoke, identifying its master. "Shall I take the Kazekage and run for Suna?"

"Absolutely not," Gaara snarled, his lip curling in disdain. "I will not run. Whatever it is that comes this way, I will not run from it."

"With all due respect, Kazekage-sama," the horse said. "You are the lifeblood of our village. We cannot bear to lose you now. I can convey you--"

"I said no, and I meant no, and if you say one more word in argument, I'll kill you," the Kazekage hissed furiously, a hint of his old madness coming back. The horse snapped its mouth shut, but its ears pinned back in supreme annoyance.

"Bloody pest," the horse grumbled. "Doesn't know what's best for his own good."

A tendril of sand peeled itself off the helix hovering around Gaara, and it hurled itself at Kurosuna, who intercepted it by turning sideways and letting the sand barrage disperse against his torso. The horse was tough, but he was no match for Gaara if the Kazekage got even remotely serious. This had just been Gaara expressing his annoyance.

Gaara scroll-summoned his gourd, just to be ready. The chakra-heavy sand erupted from its container, sending the cork flying. and spiraled both up and down, forming a double-helix column around its master.

"They're close, very close," Pakkun muttered in Kakashi's ear. "I can also smell someone coming from directly behind us. It smells like Konoha ninja... though with all this chakra-sand around, I can't be sure exactly who it is."

Temari nipped her thumb and drew blood, then dragged the blood across her fan. "Where are they coming from?" She asked firmly of Pakkun, her dark aqua eyes hard and cold. The pug pointed with his paw in a direction leading roughly toward Tsuchi no Kuni.

Temari swung her fan; "_Kuchiyose, Kirikiri Mai!_" A large weasel appeared in the air, holding a sickle, and began whirling at high speed, producing a pseudo-whirlwind that moved in the direction Pakkun had indicated. Branches and tree trunks started splitting apart and flying in all directions. It cut a substantial swath out of the forest for almost a kilometer.

A flare of chakra from behind, in the direction of Konoha, indicated that someone was very close. Gaara reacted first by sending a barrage of sand in that direction. However, Kakashi heard a distinctly familiar voice, and he recognized the aural signature on that chakra a split second before Gaara's sand struck.

"RASENGAN!" A spear of chakra-light lanced through the sand, revealing itself to be Naruto with his signature move, the spiraling sphere of pure blue chakra called Rasengan.

The orange-clad jounin just barely had time to register who he was attacking before his momentum carried him right into Gaara, knocking the Kazekage off the branch. Gaara had the presence of mind, however, to use his chakra-sand to catch him before he fell very far. And Naruto, utilizing the survival instincts borne of so many S-rank missions, mechanically grabbed onto Gaara's sleeves. There was a sharp ripping sound as the cloth tore, but Gaara reached down and locked his hands around Naruto's wrists.

"What the hell?" Both of them said at the same time.

"Naruto, you jackass, use your fucking head for once!" a voice yelled from behind. It was Shikamaru. "God, I hate babysitting you and your spastic ways. How the hell do you accomplish S-ranks on your own with this kind of impulsiveness!"

"Easy there, Shikamaru," Gai said, landing on a branch a few feet above Kakashi. "I thought they were in trouble too. I was just now trying to figure out the best way to pull off Asa Kujaku without any one of us getting hurt."

"Holy shit, what the hell?" Kiba and Akamaru landed on a particularly sturdy portion of the branch that held Kakashi and Kurosuna. Kiba was staring at the swath cut by Temari's summon.

"Meh, I recognize that," Shikamaru said. "Did you get them, overbearing woman?"

"You know I did, Nakimushi-kun," Temari said, closing up her fan with an ominous crack. "I even heard them screaming. Good work, Kamatari!"

"So, wait, we're not needed here? That's just lame!" Kiba protested. "All that frenzy for nothing! What the bloody hell?"

"There is a problem," Shino said, landing beside Kiba. "One that could cause drastic recourse."

"What?" Kiba looked expectantly over at his teammate.

Shino extended his hand from his over-long sleeve, revealing six Konoha hitai-ate in his palm. "These are genuine. They came from the bodies of the ones killed by the treefall. The ones we suspect were trying to assassinate the Kazekage."

"The Mist-nin, you mean," Naruto said logically as he climbed onto the branch he'd knocked Gaara off of. Gaara remained levitating on his sand suspension.

"Only, they are not Mist-nin. These are genuine Konoha hitai-ate. They are not counterfeit."

"So what? So they stole some from Konoha ninjas."

"How?" Shino lifted his sunglasses and fixed Naruto with a piercing black gaze. "Every single hitai-ate is accounted for, except for those lost in action during the great wars, twenty years and more ago. Even when a ninja dies in the field, his hitai-ate is returned to Konoha, to be properly put to rest beneath the cenotaph." The bug user lowered his sunglasses again, and smirked ever so slightly. "If you'd paid attention to what your teachers and the Hokage were teaching you, you'd know this already, Naruto."

He tossed the bundled hitai-ate through the air to the orange-clad jounin. "So how do you think they got their hands on those? They are authentic and not brand new, so not stolen from the forgers. They have been in use for a long time."

Kakashi scowled as he leaped to the branch where Naruto stood. He snatched the bundle from Naruto's hands; his hands trembled slightly as he came across one that he recognized the fabric of.

"This was Obito's. Obito was lost in a cavern inside Iwagakure's boundaries. He's one of the few carved on the cenotaph whose hitai-ate was never accounted for."

"We can only assume that each of those headbands was taken from a shinobi who died in the line of duty and whose hitai-ate was never recovered," Shino replied.

Naruto scrutinized his sensei as Kakashi bowed his head in heavy grief. There was a shift in Kakashi's chakra, and Naruto felt the Kyuubi grouse within him. _Oh no... not again! _He couldn't lose afford to lose control over Kyuubi. In his frantic state, he fixed on the nearest person who would understand.

"Gaara," the blond jounin said nervously, reaching out and grabbing onto Gaara's cloak to get the Kazekage's attention. "Uh, Gaara..."

"What?"

Kakashi brought his hand to his forehead, and as he lifted his head, his Sharingan was visible. The tomoe were moving.

The Kyuubi exploded within Naruto's gut, slamming against its bonds and screaming in fury. It was all Naruto could do to keep from exploding into his Four-Tailed Form. As it was, he was coated in the Nine-Tails' red chakra, and he could feel himself starting to lose control.

A branch arched out of the tree they stood in, wrapping around Naruto and pinning him motionless. A hand appeared in front of his face, with a sealing mark inscribed on the palm. The Kyuubi screamed in annoyance, but backed down, as it had no choice.

"Good work, Yamato," Gai said calmly, landing beside them. "Kakashi--" He eyed his rival, and let loose with a blistering left-cross that sent Kakashi into the trunk of the tree. "That's for being an asshole again, you damned idiot. Get a grip on yourself!"

Naruto fought down a wave of nausea as he watched Kakashi fail to react at all to being punched. That just wasn't his sensei. And it was so frustrating that Naruto couldn't do a damned thing because of this damned fox beast.

Gaara stepped off his sand cloud and moved deliberately over next to the Copy-nin, who slumped dazedly against the tree, still caught in whatever trance he suffered from. The Kazekage leaned in close, his eyes fixed on the rapidly spinning Sharingan. With slow, deliberate movements, Gaara raised his left hand in a one-handed sign, similar to the one he used to activate the chakra-sand in a body-flicker, while with his right hand, he snapped his fingers loudly directly in front of the red eye.

Kakashi blinked in astonishment. "Er, hello, Kazekage-sama." The jounin looked discomfited at having Gaara so close in proximity.

"Very intriguing," Gaara said. "It's almost as though your eye is trying to reject you now. Transplants have a tendency to reject over time. It looks to me like it was trying to cast a genjutsu in two directions, but failed, and doubled both genjutsu in on the user. That will be a challenge to unravel." The red-haired Kazekage stepped back, a hand at his chin in contemplation. "Kankurou, Temari, we should get moving. We've lost some time. Appoint some jounin to stay behind and sort through this mess, and have them catch us up as they can. Meanwhile, I want to be within Suna's jurisdiction by nightfall tomorrow. Come along, Leaf." He tapped Kakashi's forehead almost irritably. "That means you too."

* * *

Back at the gate to Konoha, several people waited anxiously for a signal of some sort. Tsunade and Jiraiya stood silently like a pair of sentries at the very gate itself. Jiraiya had a kunai in one hand, poised to draw a small spot of blood for a summoning if necessary. Several ANBU were perched on the gate's hinges or along the great fence-wall. Lee commented that he was pretty sure he knew which one was Tenten, but Sakura really didn't care. She was far more concerned about what would happen if things got bad very quickly -- such as if one of Gaara's jounin was assassinated. She couldn't see any assassin actually succeeding in killing the Kazekage himself, but if one of his siblings was killed, it would be nearly as bad as killing the Kazekage himself. 

She stuck close to Lee, practically attached to him, afraid that if she let him out of her sight, he'd slip off after Naruto and the others to try and help. The threat of war, and knowing her fiancé's vulnerability, made her especially frightened.

"Sakura-san," Hyuuga Hanabi said gently, placing a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "I see Naruto-san and Shizune-san coming back."

"Do you?" Neji landed beside Lee, activating his Byakugan as he did. "I don't see them. They must be out of my range."

Hanabi's Byakugan range was half again as far as Neji's, and she could extend it a little further with a lot of effort. She had focused most of her chakra into her eyes, making her capable of seeing twice as far as her sister and father, and half again as far as her cousin. She made an ideal addition to Shikamaru's team, since she could see trouble coming a literal mile away. Her abilities gave Shikamaru time to formulate a plan, which was why he had fought so hard to procure her when she'd become available after her teammates and sensei had died on an A-rank mission.

"Do you see anyone else? What manner is their movement?"

"They seem to be hurrying back. Naruto-san looks upset. Shizune-san looks..." Hanabi pursed her lips. "Well, not upset, but not happy. Neji-oniisan, you should be able to see them by now with the speed they're traveling at."

"Nope. Can't see 'em. Oh wait. I see movement. Aha, there they are... oh my god!"

"What is it?" Lee demanded.

"I... I don't think I've seen Naruto so agitated like that before."

"Bloody hell," Tsunade said, rubbing her forehead, and raising her arm to signal the ANBU. "They didn't make it in time, I guess. Where are the rest? I sent a good half-dozen jounin out after those two."

"I can see Yamato-san and Kiba-kun with Akamaru. I don't see Shikamaru or Gai-sensei though," Hanabi reported. "Shino's going the long way around, I can just barely see him. I think he's heading toward his home. Maybe he's going to get more bugs?"

"Doubt it," her sister said. "Shino-kun carries all the bugs he needs with him. He's probably gone home to report to his father."

"Hokage-sama, wait," Neji said when Tsunade made to send the ANBU out. "I don't think this is an emergency. From Naruto's chakra, it's the Kyuubi that has him so upset right now. It seems like he's fighting with it."

"There, I see Shikamaru and Gai-sensei now," Hanabi said. "Shikamaru looks angry. Gai-sensei looks serious."

"What about Anko?" One of the ANBU asked. "She was dispatched too."

"Don't see her."

Sakura noticed that Tsunade was beckoning her over, and reluctantly disentangled herself from Lee to answer the summons. "Yes, Tsunade-shishou?"

"I want you nearby me when Naruto comes in. I think seeing you will help calm him. You're still hugely important to him, and you're all he has left of his original team right now."

Sakura nodded in mute agreement, her heart plunging in guilt that she could never find romantic feelings for Naruto. He would have made a good match for her, after all, since he was Tsunade's chosen successor. But he was like a brother to her. She still couldn't figure out, however, if he'd ever gotten over his crush on her; she wasn't sure if he was deep down jealous or envious that she'd moved on with Lee.

A few minutes later, and the trees shifted, belching forth an orange-jacketed jounin, followed by a kunoichi in dark blue and gray.

"Naruto," Jiraiya spoke first. "What happened?"

"We weren't needed," the young blond jounin gritted his teeth. "Kakashi-sensei sensed the attack coming and warned Gaara in time. Temari took care of it."

"But the problem is that this was likely a concerted effort; I don't see any way Kirigakure could have pulled this off on their own," Shizune continued. "They had genuine hitai-ate, and it's been more than forty years since one of our ninjas died in Kirigakure's territory without their hitai-ate being recovered. These aren't brand new, but they're not that old." She handed the bundled hitai-ate over to the Hokage. "This wasn't just Kirigakure doing this. I think Iwagakure is up to their collective waist in this."

"They're certainly ass-deep," Naruto growled. "If one of those belonged to Kakashi-sensei's teammate who died in Iwa, then you can bet that Iwa's up to their balls in this one."

Sakura reached out and brushed some tree debris off Naruto's jacket. "You look upset, Naruto. What happened?"

"This damned stinkin' fox went apeshit on me again. I about lost control of it. All because I was too dumb to look away when Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan changed."

"Don't beat yourself up about it, kid," Gai-sensei said as he leaped down from a tree. "That Sharingan of Kakashi's has always been a little wild. Why else do you think I developed a method for fighting against it?" The taijutsu-specialist jounin looked over at where Lee and Neji were standing. "Lee!"

Lee presented himself posthaste in front of his sensei.

"I'm afraid that our sparring match will have to wait until later, my lad. Looks like this mess is going to be a while in sorting out. Plus," he leaned in slightly, lowering his voice, "I think you should spend some time with your lovely fiancee. You two are in the Springtime of Youth -- celebrate and enjoy it!"

Lee turned slightly red. "Er, Gai-sensei..."

The jounin looked at his student, and his carefree facade fell away; "Don't be a fool, Lee. You are a very lucky young man to have her. My only advice to you at this point is: don't fuck it up."

Lee's eyes became huge discs of disbelief. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish several times, astonished.

"A woman is a precious thing, Lee. Don't squander her affections on your ninja training. You've already proven to the world that you are a splendid ninja; you don't need to keep proving it right now. She needs you." The teacher gave his student's shoulder a gentle shove. "You don't want to end up like me, my boy. Now go take your beloved home and give her some attention. I've got work to do anyway."

Lee blinked owlishly, then nodded. "I suppose I can see your point."

Gai body-flickered away. Lee approached where Naruto and Sakura were talking with the Hokage and the Gama-sennin. As he got within ear-shot, his heart skipped a beat when he heard Naruto speak.

"Kankurou confirmed the rumors of someone fitting Sasuke's description in the vicinity of Suna's northern borders. He couldn't say for certain if it was in fact Sasuke, but he said the rumors have some validity -- there's someone fitting that description that's been sighted multiple times there."

"Good," Tsunade said. "If it turns out to be him, and you can manage to bring him home, I think we can start to seriously prepare you to become Hokage. I'm getting really tired of this game. I'm ready to kick back and let someone else take over the reins for once. I can be like Sarutobi-sensei when he promoted the Yondaime."

Jiraiya chuckled. "You know, when I first saw this scrawny dork, I couldn't believe he actually believed he'd be Hokage. But look at him now. He looks so much like my last pupil, it's scary." He reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair affectionately. "Time will tell if you're as good a Hokage as him, though, kid."

"I won't be as good," Naruto retorted. "I'll be better! I've already told all of you, I'll be the greatest Hokage ever. Even greater than Obaachan, who is a great Hokage herself, considering she didn't want the job."

"Hey, runt, knock it off," Tsunade pointed a finger at the blond jounin in mock threat. "Don't forget, I can still kick your ass with just one finger!"

"Lee," Sakura turned around to greet him, holding her hand out to him, but hesitated when she saw the look on his face. "What's the matter?"

"Eh? Oh, nothing. I am just... a little overwhelmed."

_Sasuke-kun has been sighted?_ was all he could think about. Yesterday he had been completely confident in Sakura's devotion and affections toward him, but he'd had some disturbing dreams overnight that left him a bit flummoxed. And now the possibility that Sasuke might come back to Konoha soon... it frightened Lee more than it should have.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, but said nothing as she reached for him. Gai-sensei's warning came back in a flash, and he stepped forward quickly, engulfing her in his arms. _I will not let Sasuke-kun take her from me, without a fight. I need her._

"Why don't we go home, Lee?" Sakura said softly. "You seem out of sorts today."

"I think I am, yes."

She slipped her arms around his waist. "Let's go home."

* * *

Lee was unusually quiet and almost broody all morning, often seeming lost in thought. Sakura, in the process of doing laundry, just watched his movements and tried to formulate an idea of what the problem was, since this was definitely not normal behavior for him. She had a pretty good idea what it was, but she was confused as to why it was bothering him now. He'd seemed so confident yesterday. 

She was folding clean and freshly dry clothing when he looked up meaningfully at her. "Sakura... If you are unsure about this, you do not have to go through with it."

"Unsure about what?"

"About agreeing to marry me."

"If I was unsure about it, I wouldn't have said yes."

He wasn't convinced, that was obvious. She sighed.

"I'm getting kind of tired of justifying myself to everyone. I rather didn't expect you to start doubting me too. You seemed to have no problems yesterday. Why the sudden lack of faith?"

"I rather was not expecting Sasuke-kun to ever return to the village," Lee admitted.

"He hasn't, not yet."

"No, but the possibility is still out there."

"It has always been out there. Naruto hasn't once given up on bringing him back. He's gone for long periods without solid leads, but he's never once given up on Sasuke."

Lee looked away. "But now he has a lead. Now more than ever Sasuke-kun may finally be coming back."

"So what?"

Lee didn't answer, merely stood up and began to pace. In a way, it hurt to see him so confused, but it also hurt to know he still didn't trust her like he said he did.

"I told you before, Lee, I love _you_. Sasuke is an old childhood crush. I didn't know any better."

Lee was far too polite a person to turn to her and demand that she prove it, but his posture as he paced restlessly to the window said it for him.

"I grew up mostly alone, Sakura," he said finally, after a long pause. "I would not dream of saying my childhood was as hard as Naruto-kun's, Sasuke-kun's or Gaara-sama's were. But my parents were killed by the rampaging Kyuubi, like many others in this village. I grew up with an uncle who was at best standoffish. I suppose you could say I got used to being by myself. I think Gai-sensei was the first real friend I had."

Sakura knew all this; none of this was new to her. Still, she kept her silence, figuring he was going somewhere with it. Lee didn't talk about his past very often; she sensed to some degree he was ashamed of how painful it had seemed to him, when others around him had suffered far worse tragedies and maintained stiff upper lips about it. Naruto and Gaara had gotten the standard Jinchuuriki treatment of scorn and hatred; Sasuke had witnessed his entire clan slaughtered before his very eyes by his own brother; Neji had gone for years blaming the Main Household of the Hyuuga clan for his father's death, when it had been Hyuuga Hizashi's choice in the end, as an act of mercy to save his twin brother. By contrast, Lee's childhood of aloofness and cool indifference was mild, but no less painful. He hadn't been thoroughly ignored like Naruto had, nor treated like a violent weapon with a hair-pin trigger like Gaara had, but neither had he had the loving upbringing that Sakura herself or many of their friends had had. Lee probably felt like a weakling being emotionally scarred by it, when he hadn't had it as bad as the others.

"Why am I going on about this?" He said abruptly, shaking his head. "I really am out of sorts today. Look, Sakura, I just want you to know that I do not intend to tie you down. I do not regret anything I have ever done, and I do not want you to do something that you will later regret."

Anger boiled up in Sakura rather abruptly, and she throttled it down as she stood up and strode up to him meaningfully. She spun him around and grabbed handfuls of his shirt. "Now you listen to me. I've been a nervous wreck all morning, thinking about what could happen if you overexert yourself on an S-rank, if you get killed and leave me alone."

"But you would not be alone, Sakura. You have your parents, and Naruto-kun, and if he comes back, Sasuke-kun."

"Sasuke doesn't give a damn about me, dammit! Ever since he left the village, the few times I've encountered him, he's been nothing but cruel to me. And Naruto is nothing more than a brother to me. Believe me, I tried to fall in love with him. It just isn't there. It's _you_, damn you, _you_ are the one I want, the one I love. Why can't people accept that I made a mistake, and that I was slow to realize my mistake?"

_If Naruto were here, he'd tell me I cry too easily, yet again,_ she thought as she shook tears from her eyes. This time, however, her tears were of rage and frustration. She wanted to shake this stupid idiot until the sense returned to that shiny-haired head of his.

"I want to be with you, Lee. I don't care what Sasuke does. He can come back, throw himself at my mercy, proclaim to have always loved me, and I still don't need him. For one thing, that wouldn't be Uchiha Sasuke. And for another, the one I fell in love with is you. So don't you dare cheapen my love for you with this talk like I'm going to drop you like yesterday's newspaper if Sasuke comes back. Don't you know me at all? You think I haven't already agonized enough over that moron? Don't insult me like that!"

"Sakura--I--" He seemed at a loss for words. "I am so sorry, Sakura. I did not mean to upset you." He put his arms around her and held her tightly, murmuring his apologies into her hair. "I was being stupid. Please forgive me."

"You're such an idiot, Lee," she muttered, leaning against him. "You just don't understand how I can love you like this, do you?"

"I just do not want to let my hopes get too high," he replied, squeezing her. "It is hard for me to understand that you can give up on Sasuke-kun after so long. And how you can actually prefer me over him. He is everything I am not."

"You're right, he's everything you're not: rude, aloof, arrogant and self-absorbed. Conversely, you're everything he isn't: gentle, tender, honest, affectionate, open-hearted and in love with life. Lee, I never understood what it means to be alive until you showed me. I feel so alive and safe and loved when I'm with you. You make me _happy_. Happy to be alive, and happy to be with you. I cannot say that Sasuke ever made me happy, and I'm not sure he has the capacity to make a woman happy."

He responded by kissing her, tenderly but urgently. She melted under the force of his emotions transmitting through his lips. This was what really turned her on, this raw, unbridled passion. She loosened her grip on his clothing and instead wrapped her arms around his waist, delighting in the feel of his taut muscles. Despite the scars and blemishes that adorned his entire body in various locations, she found him irresistable; he was so finely sculpted physically, a work of art of the human body. His muscles were all finely tuned and properly developed, without being grossly overdeveloped. He wasn't skinny, he wasn't even necessarily slim anymore, but he didn't have much extra bodyfat anywhere. He was a picture of what the human body should look like, properly trained.

"I'll forgive you," she murmured through the kiss, "but you owe me, and I intend to collect on it right now."

"Huh?" He broke the kiss to stare at her uncomprehendingly. She very deliberately gestured toward the bedroom.

"You owe me." She repeated, gesturing one more time for good measure. Comprehension lit his eyes.

"Very well. A gentleman does not deny a lady's request, not when he is in her debt." He adroitly scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom.

Outside, a lazy wind danced through the blossoms of the nearby cherry tree, waltzing through the daffodils in their flowerbeds, and spinning the lotus blooms in their paddies in the pond.

**THE END.**

* * *

**Coming soon: A sequel (a separate story) wherein things between Iwa, Kiri, Kumo, Suna and Konoha heat up to boiling point. Look for "The Flower in Adversity"coming soon!  
**

* * *

**END NOTES: Terminology, for those who are a bit rusty:  
**"**Geji-mayu**" is what Naruto calls Rock Lee. It translates as "fuzzy eyebrows" or as the English dub anime calls it, "Bushy Brow" and is Naruto's nickname for Lee. He doesn't mean anything rude by it, and Lee doesn't seem to mind.  
"**Ero-sennin**" is what Naruto calls Jiraiya. It means "perverted hermit" or as the English dub anime calls it, "Pervy Sage" and is Naruto's nickname for Jiraiya. Jiraiya doesn't particularly like the nickname, but he seems to get used to it.  
"**Gama-sennin**" is what Jiraiya is often called. It means "toad hermit" or as the English dub anime calls it, "Toad Sage"  
"**Nakimushi-kun**" means "Mr. Crybaby" and is what Temari calls Shikamaru, much to his chagrin.  
A **tanuki** isn't a raccoon -- it's actually a relative of the dog, fox and wolf, called a "raccoon dog." For more information, go to Wikipedia and search for "tanuki" -- that'll give you all the information you could want.  
**Hitai-ate** are the "forehead protectors" (headbands) worn by all shinobi with symbols of their home village. Because they can be worn anywhere, or not worn at all, I have chosen to use the untranslated word rather than the term "forehead protector" or "headband"  
A **kunoichi** is a female ninja. It is often used in the series as a synonym for ninja or shinobi, when talking about a female. Thus it's used here sporadically much as it is in the series.  
A **Jinchuuriki** is a human host of one of the nine different tailed demons (called "**bijuu**"). Gaara was the Jinchuuriki for Shukaku, the Ichibi (One-Tailed) and Naruto is the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi (Nine-Tailed)  
Kakashi's **ninken** are eight ninja-dogs. Pakkun is the smallest but smartest of them. 

**Hidden Villages:**  
**Konohagakure**: "The Hidden Village of Leaves" is the principle village of the Land of Fire (Hi no Kuni), and is headed by the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade.  
**Sunagakure**: "The Hidden Village of Sand" is the principle village of the Land of Wind (Kaze no Kuni), and is headed by the Godaime Kazekage, Gaara.  
**Kirigakure**: "The Hidden Village of Mist" is the principle village of the Land of Water (Mizu no Kuni), and is headed by the Mizukage.  
**Iwagakure**: "The Hidden Village of Rocks" is the principle village of the Land of Earth (Tsuchi no Kuni), and is headed by the Tsuchikage.  
**Kumogakure**: "The Hidden Village of Clouds" is the principle village of the Land of Lightning (Rai no Kuni), and is headed by the Raikage.  
**Otogakure**: "The Hidden Village of Sound" is Orochimaru's creation. It has no kage.  
**Kusagakure**: "The Hidden Village of Grass"  
**Amegakure**: "The Hidden Village of Rain"

**Attack names:**  
**Asa Kujaku** means "Morning Peacock" and has not yet been officially translated into English  
**Chidori** means "One Thousand Birds" but is largely left untranslated in the dub, beyond the intial translation  
**Omote Renge** means "Front Lotus" or "Initial Lotus" though the English dub calls it the "Primary Lotus"  
**Raikiri** literally means "thunder cut" or "lightning edge" but is called "Lightning Blade" in the dub  
**Rasengan** literally means "spiraling sphere" but seems to be left largely untranslated in the English dub.  
**Ura Renge** means "Reverse Lotus" though the English dub calls it the "Hidden Lotus"

**Honorific suffixes, for those who are rusty:  
****-chan** is used mostly towards females, and indicates a long-term, close friendship. Generally one only uses it for someone one has known since childhood. From the outset in the story, Naruto has always referred to Sakura as Sakura-chan.  
**-dono** is an antiquated suffix that is less formal than _-sama_ but more formal than _-san_. It is often used to express either submission (when used in place of _-san_) or equality (when used in place of _-sama_). In this story, Tsunade uses _-dono_ toward Gaara to indicate their equality in ranks.  
**-kun** is used mostly towards males that are younger. It is a more informal, if you will, form of _-san_, but less intimate than _-chan_. It can be used towards girls, but is not usually. Rock Lee is well known for using _-kun_ and _-san_ for nearly everyone he meets, though I have him referring to Gaara with the _-sama_ suffix out of respect for Gaara's office as Kazekage.  
**-obaachan** is used to address someone who is much older. In this context, "baa" essentially means "Honorable old woman." It's sometimes translated as "granny" but is actually very respectful, as long as the addressee doesn't mind being referred to as an old woman. The male equivalent is "_-ojiichan_"  
**-oneesan** is used to address a woman who is older than you and with whom you have a relatively close, familial bond, though blood relations aren't necessary. The word "nee" means older sister, "san" is a respectful suffix, and "o" is a modifier that adds respect to the word. Thus, saying "Temari-oneesan" is like saying "Big Sister Temari-san." The male equivalent is "_-oniisan._" Sanami uses _-oneesan _to express that she is a member -- by way of marriage -- of Temari's family and that she views Temari as a sister.  
**-sama** is used to express great respect and humility. It's often translated as "Lord" or "Lady" though royalty or nobility have nothing to do with it.  
**-san** is the most generic and safest suffix to use.  
**-sempai** is used to address a superior within an organization. Rather like "brothers" or "sisters" within a cult or coven. This is the "big brother/big sister" term. Its counterpart is "_-kohai_" but isn't used nearly as much, because calling someone "-kohai" can be taken as offensive or demeaning if you're not careful.  
**-sensei** is used to address a teacher, instructor, or an expert in a particular art. Also, _-sensei_ is used to address doctors.  
**-shishou** is used to address one's master in a particular art, such as martial arts, or in the case of Sakura, in the healing arts.  
(paraphrased and interpreted from source: Wikipedia's entry on "Japanese Titles")


End file.
